Posted on 07/15/2005 7:31:17 PM PDT by WaveMan
PORTLAND -- The Patriot Act is about to come under fire in Portland.
Brandon Mayfield, the local Muslim mistakenly linked to the Madrid bombings, is fighting back. Friday he and his high profile attorneys go to court and the case is getting international attention.
The federal court docket lists this case as Brandon Mayfield vs. John Ashcroft et al. Along with the former attorney general, he's also suing the FBI and the Department of Justice.
Who knows if his case will ever go before a jury, but Friday a judge will hear arguments that could change the way the country wages its War on Terror.
"I want to thank the Multnomah County Detention Center for this lovely Holy Koran," Mayfield said in 2004 upon his release from jail.
Mayfield likely won't be as thankful when he returns to the federal courthouse Friday morning.
Last May he was jailed for two weeks after FBI agents claimed his fingerprints linked him to the Madrid train bombings. They did not and he was released and the FBI apologized.
But that did not stop Mayfield from suing, claiming he was unfairly investigated because of what his attorneys dubbed the "Muslim factor."
They say his faith motivated federal agents to use the Patriot Act to violate Mayfield's civil rights and illegally arrest him.
Mayfield's attorneys point to an e-mail from FBI spokesperson Beth Anne Steele notifying a colleague that a Portland Muslim's fingerprint showed up in Spain.
According to the e-mail, dated the day before Mayfield was arrested, Steele wrote: "The problem is there is not enough other evidence to arrest him on a criminal charge."
In pre-trial motions Friday, Mayfield's attorneys will argue for a federal judge to give them the evidence gathered in the Mayfield investigation. They're questioning the constitutionality of the Patriot Act and the way the government investigates Muslims.
"If Mr. Mayfield loses, the message I think for Muslim citizens of the United States is dire," Lewis and Clark law professor Art La-France said
La-France says this could be a landmark case for all terrorism investigations.
"The repercussions potentially are significant. From the government's point of view it's personnel and policy could be seriously impacted in ways that are very hard to predict," La France said.
We tried to contact the FBI about the case, but because of the pending legal action, their office is not commenting.
We also are not getting any pre-trial comments from Mayfield's attorneys, most notably Gerry Spence.
The well-known trial attorney is scheduled to be at the federal courthouse Friday.
Oh, jeez, this is just the excuse that liberal lawyers have been waiting for to grand stand about the erosion of civil liberties, blah, blah, blah.
Maybe they'll go away if we just ignore them.
Just another trouble maker -- throw him out of the country.
So the sleazy legal strategy is, apparently, that Mayfield's arrest has violated every single Muslim in the United States. As I see it, a court victory for Mayfield is a victory for Islamic terror. It will be interesting to watch this case to see if we continue to implement the national suicide plan we call 'multi-culturalism".
Typical Slime.
Pu$$Y Boy!!!
Come down to Eugene and I'll have a leash on your neck and panties on yer head quicker than one of yer fellow slimes can saw off a head!!!
Maybe the government and LaFrance and a certain journalist will confer about the proper use of the apostrophe.
Maybe you don't like freedom .... maybe you like being wrongfully arrested ..... maybe you like the corrupt Big Brother ..... maybe you like the Foolish Bunch of Idiots. Instead of "SCREWING" an American citizen. You should be asking:
What has the FBI done with their fingerprint 'expert' who isn't?
If the FBI management isn't taking corrective action .... then why is that management still in position(s) of responsibility.
Why isn't the FBI devoting most of it's resources to the WOT when the President directed them to do so?
This WOT has now lasted longer then the US involvement in WWII, if the FBI states there is still terrorists and or cells in the US then the question is WHY?
The FBI needs to be disbanded. This domestic WOT needs to end now.
No, they don't know the meaning of the word, if there is another attack Muslims will be put in camps. We shouldn't do less racial and faith-profiling, but rather much much more.
Yes.
Every last stinkin follower of Moo needs to be locked up!
KIll A Commie For Mommie
Can Bill O' sue for missuse of the "Factor"?
The FBI made the correct match on a digitally corrupted print. The FBI apologized. Mayfield will probably get a big fat settlement.
Meanwhile, you want to disband the FBI and end the domestic WOT.
You're hysterical.
Waco
Ruby Ridge
OKC Bombing
TWA800
FBI Crime Lab
Deep Throat
I believe it was President Reagan who said words to the effect that if we change our way of life because of terrorism .... then the terrorist win ... based on that reasoning .... we lost. Show me your papers comrade ....
::sniff::
Deport him.
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