Posted on 03/23/2007 11:54:01 AM PDT by SmithL
MIAMI, (AP) -- A federal judge refused to dismiss the terrorism support charges against alleged al-Qaida operative Jose Padilla on Friday, rejecting defense claims that his 3 1/2 years in custody as an enemy combatant violated his constitutional right to a speedy trial.
U.S. District Judge Marcia Cooke agreed with prosecutors that Padilla's years in isolation at a Navy brig did not count because he had not yet been charged.
The criminal charges came when Padilla was added to an existing Miami terrorism support indictment in November 2005. Only then did the clock start for the Sixth Amendment's right to a "speedy and public trial," Cooke said.
"I agree that the law in this case is that a criminal trial proceeding begins with the filing of the criminal process," Cooke said. "Mr. Padilla has been promptly brought to court in that matter."
A federal appeals court in Richmond, Va., previously ruled that Padilla's detention as an enemy combatant without criminal charge was legal.
Orlando do Campo, one of Padilla's four court-appointed lawyers, insisted that the lengthy imprisonment gave prosecutors an unfair advantage in building their case, including incriminating statements Padilla made during months of interrogation.
"No one has ever been treated the way Mr. Padilla has been treated," do Campo said.
(Excerpt) Read more at sfgate.com ...
""No one has ever been treated the way Mr. Padilla has been treated," do Campo said."
AWWWWWWWW...
Doesn't your heart just 'bleed' for Padilla?
NOT!
Unfortunately, not in the the way I'd really like to see.
Well, this do campo is factually wrong, for quite a lot of people have been treated worse, and this padilla ought to be treated in a good time-hallowed medieval fashion.
Axis Sally, Mildred Gillars, was held in custody for a couple years after WWII before being put on trial and convicted of treason.
Ya think the 'rack' would be too extreme?
Me either.
Yeah.
Me either.
Rack is just a stretching exercise, nothing more. When some crazy hermit tried to visit Lorenzo the Magnificent in 1480s Florence and was suspected of being an assassin, they skinned the soles of his feet and then kept them to fire, so that fat started dropping - and then they forced him to walk.
Sounds about right.
"Rack is just a stretching exercise, nothing more. "
Not if they keep going until his arms and legs pop off!
"When some crazy hermit tried to visit Lorenzo the Magnificent in 1480s Florence and was suspected of being an assassin, they skinned the soles of his feet and then kept them to fire, so that fat started dropping - and then they forced him to walk."
]
OUCH!
That's gotta smart!
Padilla= John Doe II
But would you want this precedent to spread, so that your neighbor's detained child will have to wait for almost 4 years for his case to get a court's input?
If my neighbor is a KNOWN terrorist and collaborator?
Definitely!
And you wouldn't?
Oh. And just as a side note.
Padilla shouldn't have been allowed to be put through the court system to begin with.
You may not like it, but I have have no sympathy for him or anyone that plots to kill Americans.
Period.
And mind you, it was just a warm-up exercise, an appetizer as it were, but the stinker died before they could proceed to the main course.
daniel pearl was treated much worse.......along with countless others who were beheaded.
"daniel pearl was treated much worse.......along with countless others who were beheaded."
Yep. And yet some are worried that his 'rights' are being abused.
I'm sorry, but anyone plotting and executing plans to kill Americans, in my mind, just forfeited their rights.
No matter who they are.
And out of curiosity what happened after the conviction ?
I'm not familiar with this story which is why I'm asking.
I'm guessing it wasn't parole...... ;-)
"KNOWN" by whom? Sorry, I just have a knee-jerk distrust for government. Any tool they get will be misused and abused by their ilk 50 years down the line.
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