Oregon Lawyer Arrested in Madrid Bombings

Yahoo! News ^ | May 07, 2004 | RUKMINI CALLIMACHI

[jjackson]

PORTLAND, Ore. - A native Oregonian was arrested as a material witness in the deadly train bombings in Madrid, Spain, federal authorities said.

Brandon Mayfield, a lawyer and former Army officer, was taken into custody Thursday by FBI (news - web sites) agents, who also searched his home in the Portland suburb of Aloha.

It was the first known arrest in the United States with connections to the March 11 terrorist attacks, which killed 191 people and injured 2,000 others.

Mayfield, 37, was arrested on a material witness warrant and has not been charged with any crime, according to a senior law enforcement official in Washington D.C., speaking on condition of anonymity. A material witness warrant allows the government to hold people suspected of having direct knowledge about a crime or to allow time for further investigation into the witness.

Mayfield's fingerprints were found on materials related to the Madrid bombings, said a second senior law enforcement official, also speaking on condition of anonymity.

Beth Anne Steele, a spokeswoman for the FBI in Portland, confirmed two search warrants had been served Thursday in Washington County, which includes Aloha. She would not release further details.

Mayfield passed the Oregon bar in 2000 and largely kept a low profile in the Portland legal community until 2002, when he volunteered to represent Muslim terrorism suspect Jeffrey Battle in a child custody case.

Battle was among six Portland area residents who were sentenced last year on charges of conspiring to wage war against the United States by helping al-Qaida and the former Taliban rulers of Afghanistan (news - web sites).

Mayfield was not involved with Battle's defense in that case. Law enforcement officials in Washington did not know of any contacts between Mayfield and the other Portland terrorism defendants.

Mayfield had converted to Islam in the late 1980s and regularly attended Friday prayers at a Beaverton mosque, said mosque administrator Shahriar Ahmed.

Friends and family said they were shocked to learn of the arrest.

Outside their home near Portland late Thursday, Mona Mayfield described her husband as "a good man, a good father, a good husband." The couple have two sons, ages 10 and 15, and a 12-year-old daughter.

Portland attorney Tom Nelson, who described himself as a mentor, said he received a call Thursday afternoon from Mayfield asking for help.

"His wife was in tears because of the way the search was conducted. The FBI apparently hurt things in the house, left things in disarray," Nelson told reporters outside Mayfield's home. "He is a regular run-of-the-mill guy."

Nelson also said Mayfield had never traveled to Spain.

Spanish authorities blame the attack on Islamic extremists, possibly linked to al-Qaida. Eighteen people have been charged to date, six with mass murder and the others with collaboration or with belonging to a terrorist organization.

[jjackson]

Outside their home near Portland late Thursday, Mona Mayfield described her husband as "a good man, a good father, a good husband." and a good Moslem, intent on waging jihad against the infidel.

Nelson told reporters outside Mayfield's home. "He is a regular run-of-the-mill guy." You know, just a former Army officer, lawyer, and Moslem convert, attending the old mosque regularly and helping to kill infidels.

[ClintonBeGone]

Spanish authorities blame the attack on Islamic extremists, possibly linked to al-Qaida. Eighteen people have been charged to date, six with mass murder and the others with collaboration or with belonging to a terrorist organization.

I saw his picture. He looks a bit like a 60's Richie Cunningham with a beard. Wouldn't this just be another kick to our shins if after bashing Spain for backing out of Iraq, we find one of our own citizens was involved in the bombing. Not a good month for the President. Thank God Kerry is so pathetic.

[jjackson]

Houston Chronicle News Services version.

http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/ssistory.mpl/front/2554624

FBI arrests U.S. lawyer in Madrid bombings


ALOHA, Ore. -- The FBI detained an Oregon man Thursday after his fingerprints were identified on evidence connected to the March 11 train bombings in Madrid that killed 191 people, according to a law enforcement source.

Brandon Mayfield, a U.S. citizen, was taken into custody on a material witness warrant, said a senior law enforcement official in Washington, speaking on condition of anonymity. The arrest is the first known in the United States with connections to the March 11 bombings in Madrid.

A law enforcement official told the New York Times Thursday night that Mayfield's fingerprints matched prints found on a bag in the wreckage of the Madrid bombing.

Mayfield is a lawyer tangentially connected to the Portland Seven terrorism case. Mayfield represented one of the men who pleaded guilty in that case, Jeffrey Leon Battle, in an unsuccessful battle to retain custody of his son, Esau. Battle, who had raised the boy from birth, was sentenced to 18 years in prison last year after pleading guilty to conspiracy to levy war against the United States.

Outside Mayfield's home in Aloha, near Portland, his wife, Mona, said Thursday evening that he is "a good man, a good father, a good husband."

"It's just unfair. It's unfair to myself and it is unfair to my children," Mona Mayfield said.

Federal officials in Portland confirmed that two search warrants were executed Thursday in what an FBI spokeswoman would describe only as "ongoing investigations." One search was conducted in Portland and one in suburban Beaverton. Mayfield has a law office in Portland.

Material witness warrants, usually kept confidential by a federal judge, are used by the government to hold people suspected of having direct knowledge about a crime or to allow time for further investigation into the witness. Suspects may be held indefinitely without formal charges.

The Madrid bombings, allegedly carried out by a group linked to the al-Qaida terrorist network, resulted in the toppling of the Spanish government in an election held just days after the attacks. In addition to those killed when 10 bombs were simultaneously detonated on four trains, more than 2,000 people were injured.

Eighteen people have been charged to date in Spain -- six charged with mass murder and the others with collaboration or with belonging to a terrorist organization. The FBI and other U.S. agencies have warned that al-Qaida or its sympathizers might attempt to attack mass transit systems in major U.S. cities this summer.

Portland attorney Tom Nelson, who described himself as Mayfield's friend and mentor, said Thursday afternoon that he received a call from Mayfield Thursday, pleading for help. Nelson said Mayfield would be represented by a public defender.

Nelson also said Mayfield had never traveled to Spain.

"His wife was in tears because of the way the search was conducted. The FBI apparently hurt things in the house, left things in disarray," Nelson told reporters outside Mayfield's home. "He is a regular run-of-the-mill guy."

Mona Mayfield said her husband is 37, and that the two have two sons, ages 10 and 15, and a 12-year-old daughter.

Her husband, a former Army officer, was born in the small Oregon coastal community of Coos Bay, she said. He converted to Islam in 1989, she said, and attends a mosque in nearby Beaverton.

Neighbors Arlene and Roy Witt, both 71, said the Mayfields have been a pleasure to live near. They used to exchange cookies, and the Witts' grandchildren would play ball with the Mayfield children over the back fence.

"A kind of shock went through me," Arlene Witt said. "There is no safe place anymore. We've tried to be neighborly and they've been friendly."

Six people pleaded guilty in the Portland terror cell case, acknowledging that they had traveled to China shortly after the terrorist strikes on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon in a futile attempt to sneak into Afghanistan via Pakistan. A seventh member of the cell and its alleged leader was reportedly killed in Pakistan.

Battle pleaded guilty last year to the most serious charges of conspiring to levy war against the United States. He admitted he conspired to travel to Afghanistan to fight with al-Qaida and the Taliban against U.S. troops.

Mayfield had attempted to have Battle's son placed in the custody of an uncle who had also converted to Islam, rather than with his mother and Battle's former wife, Angela Rowden of Houston. Rowden was awarded custody of the boy, who now goes by the name Geoffrey.

[Redcoat LI]

The "religion" of peace at work.

Moon-worshipping savages.

[WayneM]

First he became a lawyer, then he converted to Islam. Talk about a descent into disrepute!

The government needs to forget political correctness and start investigating what can be done within the bounds of the constitution to supress the growth of Islam in this country.

Islam is not a religion. It is a satanic force on a mission to destroy all that is good in this world and replace good with evil and misery and slavery.

ISLAM IS EVIL! It is the duty of everyone who loves this country to spread this message to all with whom they come into contact.

[jjackson]

"Wouldn't this just be another kick to our shins if after bashing Spain for backing out of Iraq, we find one of our own citizens was involved in the bombing."

I don't follow you. Spain backed down in the face of terrorism. Such appeasement will inevitably lead to more terrorism, so Spain should be criticized for its selfish shortsightedness.

If one of our citizens is involved in terrorism, he should be punished for such behavior, but the whole country should not be considered complicit in his crime and certainly the President should not be blamed for another's criminal act.

[BunnySlippers]

[jjackson]

"First he became a lawyer, then he converted to Islam. Talk about a descent into disrepute!"

I think it was vice versa. Moslem in 1989 and lawyer in 2000.

[CT]

Welcome to Portlandistan - a culturally diverse mixture or radical islam and maxist dogma. The same place where commies build and run near-empty toy trains, even if The People vote against them.

[ClintonBeGone]

I don't follow you. Spain backed down in the face of terrorism. Such appeasement will inevitably lead to more terrorism, so Spain should be criticized for its selfish shortsightedness.

Think about it. Be multidimentional in your thoughts. It will be viewed by the socialists in Spain as criticism from a country who sends it own people over to bomb Spain yet has the gall to be critical of her taking her troops home. It wont be good.

[2banana]

Brandon Mayfield, a lawyer and former Army officer

That is in the second paragraph.

Mayfield had converted to Islam in the late 1980s and regularly attended Friday prayers at a Beaverton mosque, said mosque administrator Shahriar Ahmed.

This is buried deep in the article near the end. Which is more important or might explain motive? And why does the press try to bury it?

[jjackson]

"The government needs to forget political correctness and start investigating what can be done within the bounds of the constitution to supress the growth of Islam in this country."

Torquemada may have been on the right track afterall.

One must fight fire with fire.

[ClintonBeGone]

If one of our citizens is involved in terrorism, he should be punished for such behavior, but the whole country should not be considered complicit in his crime and certainly the President should not be blamed for another's criminal act.

It would be extremely naive for us to think this is actually how it will turn out.

[ET(end tyranny)]

The "religion" of peace at work.

More like, the religion of pieces.

Makes you wonder just how many of these fundamental converts we have in the US.

[jjackson]

Is that a foto of Momma on the bottom?

Looks like she is one too.

[jjackson]

"It will be viewed by the socialists in Spain as criticism from a country who sends it own people over to bomb Spain"

The country did not send him or anyone else to bomb Spain.

[BunnySlippers]

That's his wife. :)

[ET(end tyranny)]

Which is more important or might explain motive? And why does the press try to bury it?

Very perceptive! You are right of course.

[jjackson]

I will stick to rational thought and you can think in irrational ways for the leftists, if that is what turns you on.