Madrid case leads to lawyer in Oregon
Brandon Mayfield, who lives in Aloha, has been detained as a material witness relating to the terrorist bombing in Spain
Friday, May 07, 2004
NOELLE CROMBIE
and MARK LARABEE
Federal agents on Thursday detained a Washington County lawyer in connection with the deadly March 11 terrorist attack in Madrid -- the first American connection to the worst terrorist attack since Sept. 11, 2001.
Brandon Mayfield, 37, who lives in Aloha and played a minor legal role in the Portland Seven terrorism case, was picked up at his West Slope law office on a material witness hold Thursday morning, said Tom Nelson, Mayfield's attorney.
"Keep in mind that he's not been charged with anything," Nelson said. "He's a material witness, and he will comply with the process until they release him. He is not a defendant."
FBI officials and U.S. Attorney Karin Immergut declined to comment on whether Mayfield was detained or his possible connection to the attack in Spain that left 191 dead and more than 2,000 wounded.
Immergut would only say that federal agents searched two Beaverton locations Thursday.
Mayfield's 1994 Chevy Corsica was parked in front of his office Thursday afternoon. Tenants said men in suits searched the car Thursday morning. On the car's front seat was an FBI property receipt, listing items that were seized including business cards, audio cassettes, a DMV notice of transaction and Mapquest driving directions.
A law enforcement source, speaking on the condition of anonymity, said Thursday that Mayfield is linked to evidence found near the Madrid bombing site. Authorities in Oregon targeted Mayfield soon after the bombing occurred, the source said.
Nelson said he couldn't respond to any questions about whether his client was connected to the Madrid bombing because he is under a court order not to talk about the merits of the case.
Mayfield is being held as a material witness under a federal statute designed to protect the identity of grand jury witnesses. The statute is designed to secure the testimony of someone with information "material" to an alleged crime. The law is most commonly used when potential witnesses may be reluctant to cooperate, in danger or likely to flee. The law allowing those detentions has been on the books for years.
It was unclear why Mayfield was booked into the Justice Center jail under the false name of Randy Taylor on Thursday evening.
Late Thursday, as word spread of Mayfield's detention, his friends and family described him as a quiet and patriotic man focused on building his law practice.
"My husband is innocent," Mona Mayfield said Thursday afternoon from the couple's home. "Everybody knows he is innocent and he will be released soon. And I have been advised not to say anything else."
Shahriar Ahmed, president of Bilal Mosque in Beaverton, where Mayfield was a volunteer, said Mayfield has been a Muslim convert for a long time.
Ahmed said Mayfield moved from Tillamook, where he started his law practice. He moved so he could put his children into Beaverton schools.
Ahmed said he didn't know of any foreign travel by Mayfield. He said Mayfield never said anything that suggested he had anti-U.S. views or supported radical Islamic movements.
"He was very patriotic," Ahmed said. Civil rights were "a big deal to him."
Ahmed said the news of Mayfield's detention was stunning. "A lot of people will be shocked," he said.
Family practice lawyer
Nelson, Mayfield's lawyer, said his client is the sole practitioner in a law office that specializes in family and immigration law. He does a lot of work for the Oregon State Bar's Modest Means program, which matches attorneys who are willing to work at reduced rates with low-income clients.
"That's his bread and butter here in the Portland area," Nelson said. "He's not a rich attorney. He's surviving. His clients are people in the neighborhood."
Nelson described Mayfield as a "very" moderate Muslim, like himself, who worships occasionally at the Bilal Mosque in Beaverton. He said Mayfield is not devout.
Nelson said Mayfield's family is "very upset with this."
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.
"The way that this has been handled so far by the government is unfair and unethical," Nelson said. "His name has been drug out into the media before I talked to him. Somebody's leaking."
Nelson said he's getting distraught phone calls from Mayfield's wife about reporters knocking on the door and television news helicopters flying over the house.
"He's not been charged with anything, yet this guy's name has been drug through the mud," Nelson said. "This is his reputation."
Nelson said he first spoke with Mayfield over the telephone in 1994 or 1995, when the younger man called him seeking advice on where to go to law school. Until Thursday, the two had never met. Mayfield settled on Washburn University School of Law in Topeka, Kan., and finished at Lewis & Clark Law School in Portland, Nelson said.
The Mayfields moved from Newport to Aloha to attend Beaverton schools. But they also hoped to escape the teasing their youngest daughter experienced because of her head scarf at the Newport school, said Roy Witt, Mayfield's next-door neighbor.
Witt occasionally helped Brandon Mayfield work on his house, a rundown two-story farmhouse that previously had been repossessed. Mayfield told his neighbor that he was raised in Kansas and that his wife grew up in Seattle.
Brian Lamson, an insurance agent whose office is next to Mayfield's in the Canyonwood Office Complex at 8835 S.W. Canyon Lane, said Mayfield was reserved.
"It seemed like he had a lot on his mind," he said.
Lamson said there was not much foot traffic in and out of Mayfield's office, only about one client a month. But it seemed that Mayfield was a hard worker, sometimes coming into the office on weekends.
Lamson said he was "stunned" by the news Thursday.
Mayfield had been renting office space for about two years, said Sharon Brown, the property manager. About a year ago, he moved into a larger space. He always paid his rent on time and said little about his private life.
"He's a quiet guy," Brown said. "He's a good tenant."
Mayfield kept such a low profile at the office building that lawyers two doors down didn't even realize there was another lawyer in the building. But attorney Mike Baxter is skeptical about the government's case.
"It's unbelievable," Baxter said. "I'll believe it when I see it. Whether he's innocent or guilty, we'll never know because of the Justice Department."
Mayfield was admitted to the Oregon State Bar in 2000 and took referrals on immigration, international law and family law cases. No complaints have been filed against him, bar association officials said Thursday.
Portland Seven connection
Mayfield had represented Jeffery Leon Battle in a custody matter. Battle was sentenced in November to 18 years in federal prison for participating in a failed October 2001 plot to fight against U.S. troops in Afghanistan.
Seven people -- six men and a woman, mostly American Muslims -- were charged in the case and became known as the Portland Seven. The men traveled from Portland to western China before disbanding in the face of visa problems and Chinese border troops.
In 2002, Mayfield unsuccessfully tried to block the mother of Battle's son, Esau, from gaining custody of the child.
The Madrid case involved 10 near-simultaneous explosions that blew up four commuter trains during the morning rush hour in Madrid. The explosives were placed in backpacks and left aboard trains and on tracks at three stations.
Investigators think the terrorists who carried out the bombings were members of an autonomous cell who might have had ties with fundamentalists elsewhere but got their financing chiefly from drug profits.
Prior to Mayfield's detention, at least 24 suspects were arrested in the bombings. Seven suspects linked to the bombings blew themselves up April 3 as police moved in.
David R. Anderson, Stephen Beaven, Bryan Denson, Laura Gunderson, Les Zaitz, Margie Gultry and Lori Tobias contributed to this report.
Reading about this guy is upsettling.