Posted on 02/03/2006 8:23:04 AM PST by flutters
COLUMBUS, Ohio -- A lawyer for an Ohio trucker convicted of plotting to destroy the Brooklyn Bridge has prepared a motion asking a federal judge to throw out the case on the grounds that the government illegally spied on him.
The motion on behalf of Iyman Faris, 36, is among the first challenges to seek evidence of electronic eavesdropping by the National Security Agency, a practice that began after the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.
Attorney David Smith, who is handling Faris' appeal, said he plans to file the motion Friday in U.S. District Court in Alexandria, Va. It will argue that investigators improperly obtained evidence against Faris, and that his defense lawyer at trial was ineffective.
Faris pleaded guilty in 2003 to conspiracy and aiding and abetting terrorism, and was sentenced to 20 years in prison. Prosecutors cited incriminating statements he made under questioning by federal agents.
At his sentencing hearing, prosecutors acknowledged that federal agents were led to Faris by a telephone call intercepted in another investigation.
Critics say the NSA tactics are unconstitutional, noting that the agency uses wiretaps without getting judges to sign warrants. The Bush administration has staunchly defended the practice, saying the agency only monitors calls in which one party is outside the United States and the call is believed to be related to terrorism.
On Tuesday, a civil liberties group sued AT&T Inc. for its alleged role in helping the NSA spy on the phone calls and other communications of U.S. citizens without warrants.
The class-action lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court in San Francisco by the Electronic Frontier Foundation, seeks to stop the surveillance program that started shortly after the 2001 attacks. It also seeks billions of dollars in damages.
The EFF claims the San Antonio-based telecommunications company not only provided direct access to its network that carries voice and data but also to its massive databases of stored telephone and Internet records that are updated constantly.
AT&T has declined to comment on that case.
A lawyer for Ali al-Timimi, an Islamic scholar in northern Virginia convicted of exhorting followers, has said he plans to challenge his case based on NSA involvement. So has an attorney for Adham Amin Hassoun, a Lebanese-born Palestinian who worked as a computer programmer in Broward County, Fla.
Al-Timimi is serving life in prison.
Hassoun is charged along with four others with being part of a North American cell dedicated to supporting violent Muslim extremists worldwide. He is awaiting trial in Miami.
Why don't the government just get the man a camel to abuse and settle it? In the middle of July in Death walley with 1 quart of water and no shoes?
walley=Valley ooopps!! fumbly fingers strike again --- spell check is my friend....
This is exactly why we need domestic surveillance.
Surveillance does not force law-abiding citizens to modify their behavior to accommodate criminals, and may be effective in reducing the need for the types of security measures which do.
An excellent point. Too bad it's lost on all the left-wing extremists.
I'm all in favor of privacy, but we need to use some common sense. If the lefties would stop defending the criminals, we'd have very little need for surveillance, since the criminals would be in jail or deported.
Bring 'em on. The makeup of the Supreme Court has changed recently in the direction of sanity and enforcing the Constitution as written, rather than what they want it to say.
Bang! (the sound of the Hammer striking the nail)
Amazing set of rules in place. But if he had succeeded, no doubt it would have been a failure of the Bush adminsitration to protect us.
Hypocracy knows no bounds.
Think about the idiocy of this appeal. He already pleaded guilty to the crime while knowing exactly how the evidence against him had been obtained, and now he wants to have his "conviction" (i.e., guilty plea) thrown out.
This is probably why the appeal includes an "incompetent counsel" element as well -- because on its face the appeal is ludicrous.
See #31. He's not appealing a conviction -- he's appealing his own freakin' guilty plea.
Excellent point. The more I learn about who effective this eavesdropping has been, the more I tend to support it.
If al-Qaida is calling Americans, I want to know what it's being discussed. My children's life and my own life are at risk from these terrorists, and I'm glad someone is keeping track of their evil plans.
I don't think the purpose of the appeal is concerned with this case at all. It is just the wedge used to pry into information for a broader purpose, to seek to uncover classified information and to destroy the weapons we use against terrorists and other miscreants.
You didn't hear?
Freddy got caught trying to blow up the Brooklyn Bridge! ! ! ! !
Is that you, Dilbert? ;-P
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