He said he came to be Mayfield's attorney Thursday after a call from Charles Gorder, an assistant U.S. attorney. Nelson said that he was on television in an unrelated matter Wednesday night and that Mayfield had seen the program and asked for him.
But before he could speak to his client, Nelson said, he was getting calls from a Newsweek magazine reporter about the case. He said he's outraged.
So The Oregonian had Nelson as Mayfield's attorney.
Then there's the following from an AP story in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution:
Portland attorney Tom Nelson, who described himself as a mentor, said he received a call Thursday 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 said Mayfield had never traveled to Spain.
"Obviously, the government holds all the cards in these kinds of situations," Nelson told ABC's "Good Morning America" Friday. "It can release any kind of information it thinks it wants to release and the other side is prohibited to speaking on the merits, so I can't speak to the merits."
"He's in no position to, say, do forensic tests of his own" on the alleged fingerprints, Nelson added. He said he was speaking as a friend and was not acting as Mayfield's legal counsel.
Hard to figure out what the truth is here.