Posted on 06/01/2007 9:18:47 PM PDT by NormsRevenge
MIAMI - A federal judge refused Friday to toss out FBI wiretap evidence in the Jose Padilla terrorism support case, rejecting an attempt by defense attorneys to prevent jurors from hearing conversations about Osama bin Laden and other well-known Islamic extremist leaders.
U.S. District Judge Marcia Cooke ruled the two dozen telephone intercepts that drew objections from defense attorneys were relevant to the case. Cooke also rejected defense assertions that invoking bin Laden's name would make Padilla and his two co-defendants appear more guilty in the jury's eyes.
"The mere fact that a name is mentioned, in and of itself, does not mean it will be excluded," Cooke said. "I'm not ready to go there."
Next week, prosecutors expect to begin playing some of their 123 main evidence tapes, a tiny fraction of the 300,000 conversations intercepted by the FBI in an investigation that stretched over a decade.
Padilla, a U.S. citizen held for 3 1/2 years as an enemy combatant, is charged along with Adham Amin Hassoun and Kifah Wael Jayyousi with being part of a support network for Islamic extremist groups worldwide. Padilla was initially accused in 2002 of plotting with al-Qaida to detonate a radioactive "dirty bomb" inside the United States, but those charged are not part of the Miami indictment.
Separately Friday, The Associated Press filed a motion seeking a court order requiring prosecutors to provide copies of the wiretap audio as well as paper exhibits on the same day they are introduced as evidence. Cooke did not rule immediately but planned a hearing on the request next week.
During a daylong hearing, defense lawyers tried to persuade Cooke that references to bin Laden on some of the calls shouldn't be allowed in as evidence. For example, Hassoun and Jayyousi are overheard on several May 1997 calls excitedly discussing an interview with bin Laden that appeared on CNN.
Introduction of that tape by prosecutors, said Hassoun attorney Ken Swartz, is "an attempt to get Osama bin Laden's name out in front of the jury. They want to show that because these men talk about him, they must support him."
But Assistant U.S. Attorney Russell Killinger repeatedly argued that jurors can make up their own minds about what the calls mean.
"Every time the word bin Laden appears in this case, they (defense attorneys) are trying to get rid of it," Killinger said. "This case is based on wiretap evidence. It is based on their own words and actions."
References are also made on the calls to Omar Abdel-Rahman, a blind sheik sentenced to life in prison for plotting to blow up New York landmarks and assassinate Egypt's president. Jayyousi is overheard on several calls talking directly to Abdel-Rahman before he was convicted, including one in which they discuss violence between Russian forces and Muslims in Chechnya.
On a 1996 call, Hassoun is heard talking to a man named Abu Omar about photographs he had seen of then-first lady Hillary Rodham Clinton shaking hands with a moderate Muslim. Hassoun expresses outrage, in part because of his view that the Clinton administration had turned a blind eye to persecution of Muslims around the world.
"The only way to deal with these people is with the sword," Hassoun says, according to a transcript.
Padilla's voice is only heard on seven wiretaps and he is mentioned on about two dozen others, usually by aliases such as Ibrahim or Abu Abdullah the Puerto Rican. Padilla's lawyers unsuccessfully sought to suppress an October 2000 call in which Hassoun allegedly discusses Padilla's whereabouts with a man overseas.
"Do you know what happened to Abu Abdullah the Puerto Rican?" Hassoun says.
"Abu Abdullah, who is Ibrahim, is in Afghanistan," the unidentified man answers.
Prosecutors say Padilla filled out a form to attend an al-Qaida training camp in Afghanistan that purportedly produced hundreds of potential terror operatives.
In this undated handout photo provided by the Florida Department of Corrections, Herbert Atwell is shown. Atwell testified, Thursday, May 31, 2007, that he knew suspected al-Qaida operative Jose Padilla and a purported terrorism supporter while attending a Florida mosque, and that he considered becoming a fighter himself for Islamic groups overseas. (AP Photo/Florida Department of Corrections)
Handsome lad.
Is Padilla being represented by Weaselly or is Weaselly going to be a defense witless?
A judge who's not a complete pushover for the defense. And even shows at least a little common sense. I'm encouraged.
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