Guilty Verdict Reached in Padilla Trial

Guilty Verdict Reached in Padilla Trial

news.yahoo.com

The three are accused of being part of a North American support cell that provided supplies, money and recruits to groups of Islamic extremists. The defense contended they were trying to help persecuted Muslims in war zones with relief and humanitarian aid.

(visit the link for the full news article)

Mod Edit: Title.



[edit on 16/8/2007 by Mirthful Me]

This will be one to watch. This trial, IMO, will set great precedence over future related terror trials. Verdict is to be announced at 2pm ET, at which point we can all take a look at the arguments.


news.yahoo.com
(visit the link for the full news article)

Mod Edit: Title.

[edit on 16/8/2007 by Mirthful Me]

I just finished reading an interveiw with forensic psychiatrist Dr. Angela Hegarty who interviewed him after his release. really worth reading :interview

What those that interogated him did to him is inhumane.

This is sickening. It is a shame that anyone could support the Govt,. in this case. they grabbed an AMERICAN citizen and tortured him for three or four years and then tried him on charges that are totally different than the ones trumpeted by the disgraced and twisted Ashcroft. the lies and nonsense that the US govt, spewed out is a travesty of justice.

I pray that Jose is found not guilty and released to try and get his sanity and life back. We are living in a sick nation led by a sick bunch of psychopaths led by a moron named Bush. Cheney is the really evil one; he is the epitome of the jaded and corrupt an d UN Amarican traitor who gets to high office by treachery and deceit.

Padillas rights were violated in so many ways that is staggers the mind and sickens the soul, but the Govt, is not made up of moral and good people, but sheep following orders to destroy this nation bit by bit. History will show that we were the most apathetic, pathetic, lazy, uneducated and trusting idiots ever to blow a great country into a fascist dictatorship during a single decade.

The Bush crime family, as well as the Clintons, just as evil, have ruined this nation and we can no longer hold up heads high anymore in the world. Shame on us and on the scum we tolerate in politics. this nation has gone from corrupt and Ok to corrupt and sick and evil. We are NOT the good guys any more. Get it? We are as bad as anyone else who treats its citizens like anilmals,. ort worse. Hell, it is ILLEGAL to treat a dog like they did Padilla, but with the Bush crime regime it is OK.

People, we are seeing the open, unhidden, direct takeover of the Constitution and this nation by traitors and enemies of the stae: Bush, Cheney, etx etc. are truly evil and despicable men who have no morals and I guarantee that their souls are already consigned to the infernal regions when they are finally gobe from this world. They are a virus, a disease, a sickness. and only a thorough cleansing will allow for this nation to truly be free and right again.

Guilty. Wow. I am not even sure what to say...

I pretty much knew how this was going to go down back when it was first reported he was being held without a lawyer and never having being read his Miranda rights.

I can only think that this is going to promote the fear mongering and up the ante on others designated as Homegrown Terrorists.



[edit on 8/16/07 by catchphraseneeded]

Yea for America !!

Hopefully he'll get out via an appeal.

It all kind of puts a new spin on the report being released yesterday from NYPD about home grown terror. Didn'AP Articlet even link the 2.

Hmmm....

I'm bothered by the fact that Federal prosecutors didn't go after this guy on the charges for which he was arrested. If this tands, there will be a new legal prcedent that will be used against American citizens in the future. Anyone who thinks that the Democrat majority of 2009 will bring enlightned rule needs to re-think. The Federal courts have just handed all future siting Presidents a new tool that can and will be abused.

I'll be the first one to admit that Padilla was a bad guy doing bad things, but the way in which this case was handled needs a close look. They did everything in their power to avoid trying this guy in a proper court under accurate charges. Please bear in mind that he IS an American citizen. What they did to them can be done to the rest of us.

Well this means one more thing, we will move to another 9/11 and anybody that goes against the administration will be following padilla's steps in the NWO of judging american style.

He was after all the one to pay for the last 9/11, the martyr.

Bottom line is that they nailed him and he could not do anything to hurt our nation. How can you people call this a "Bush Crime syndicate" issue?

There was more that enough evidence against him and it stood up in court. He trained, aided and helped terrorists. They knew his travels. They have fingerprints to put him in these other countries.

There is no erosion of personal liberties. This reaffirms that if you attempt to harm the US through terrorist means, that you will be held, tried and a verdict will be handed down.

I am interested in the flood of documents and and intel that will be released after the trial like Moussai.

Actually, therewas an erosion of our civil liberties in this case. As you know, Mr. Padilla was convicted of conspiracy charges AFTER he'd been arrested and charged with being an enemy combatant. He was, in effect, convicted on lesser charges than those for which he was arrested. Bear in mind that he was held for more than three years AS an enemy combatant. For those who don't know, being an enemy combantant, taking up arms against your country, and and killing your own countrymen are in fact crimes punishable under the UCMJ...which was...the jurisdiction under which he was charged.

Lets use me as a example. Let's say that some or all of what I wrote is eventually deemed to be treacherous in the eyes of the Federal government. On the basis of my alleged miitancy, they can arrest me under the terms of the USA Patriot Act, charge me under the terms of the Military Commissions act, and then change their minds AFTER I've been held in Federal lockup for three years. Under different charges, I could then be tried in civilian court without that pesky label.

None of us who post here are doubting Padilla's guilt. What we are concerned about is the nuts and bolts of the legal process that might one day be used against us.

That stance is very macho Esdad, but the concern isn't over how big the US's cahones are. The concern is that an American citizen was held without justice. That is the point here. No one is saying this guy wasn't a douche. We are saying, as Justin so rightly pointed out, that this is not cool because it could happen to any one of us.

Thats the big picture. I hope he does have to pay for his crimes, but not ruin and deface the US justice system in the process.



[edit on 16-8-2007 by TruthWithin]

Originally posted by InSpiteOf
What those that interogated him did to him is inhumane.

Just because Amy Goodman and friends say it is so does not make it so.

Almost everyone on ATS takes what she alleges with a large grain of salt. She and her alias have been proven wrong the vast majority of the time.

She once claimed Americans had killed thousands of civilains in Red trucks on her website but when you checked out her own sources that she was dumb enough to post it turned out they were all members of the Taliban. Enough said

Originally posted by Justin Oldham
None of us who post here are doubting Padilla's guilt. What we are concerned about is the nuts and bolts of the legal process that might one day be used against us.

Thanks for that one Justin, still you can tell that for some nothing is happening in our once free republic.

Somebody got guilty verdict and regarless of his rights we got one bad man to be blame for 9/11. . .

We are to completely ignore the facts behind his trial, I am waving my littler American flag as I write.

It makes the future looks very peachy indeed.

Originally posted by InSpiteOf
I just finished reading an interveiw with forensic psychiatrist Dr. Angela Hegarty who interviewed him after his release. really worth reading :interview

What in the world is going on at 2:04 into the video?

Originally posted by Justin Oldham
He was, in effect, convicted on lesser charges than those for which he was arrested.

That by itself is unremarkable. It happens all the time. It's called plea bargaining.

Originally posted by Justin Oldham
Bear in mind that he was held for more than three years AS an enemy combatant. For those who don't know, being an enemy combantant, taking up arms against your country, and and killing your own countrymen are in fact crimes punishable under the UCMJ...which was...the jurisdiction under which he was charged.

It seems that for months, I have heard here that treating someone as an "enemy combatant" was illegal and a constitutional travesty. That these terrorists must be tried in our criminal justice system. That they must be afforded every right that we as Americans enjoy.

And then, when it does happen, what do I hear? That the defendant was treated unfairly, even though he was given a trial by a jury of his peers.

The only regret that I have is that we never got to hear how the SCOTUS would have ruled on the question of enemy combatants. But that is nothing when I realize that Padilla will soon be sharing a wing in the SuperMax with Zacarias Moussaoui.

I hae to agree with jsobecky on that Supreme Court thing. I would have liked to hear that ruling, myself. My beef with the Padilla matter is that the Executive branch is now armed with a flexible standard that it can use to its convenience. So far as I know, Mr. Padilla never had a chance to bargain his plea. The decision was made by the Federal prosecution to change the charges. I didn't want to see this guy walk, and I'm glad that he diddn't.

The administration has been trying to have its cake and eat it, too. I myself would have been happy to see him tried in a military court as per Geneva, since he was classed as an enemy combantant (per UCMJ). That seperate but equal thing they had going with those special tribunal just didn't work for me. I've had the pleasure of working for Army JAG, and I'm ofthe opinion that Padilla and others should have been tried as the enemy combatants that they were.

Originally posted by Justin Oldham
The administration has been trying to have its cake and eat it, too. I myself would have been happy to see him tried in a military court as per Geneva, since he was classed as an enemy combantant (per UCMJ). That seperate but equal thing they had going with those special tribunal just didn't work for me. I've had the pleasure of working for Army JAG, and I'm ofthe opinion that Padilla and others should have been tried as the enemy combatants that they were.

I would agree, as long as the further qualification of unlawful is applied to their enemy combatant status.

There was one piece of evidence that struck me as odd. It was a 5-page document that was an application to an al Qaeda training camp; it had Padilla's fingerprints on it.

Document? Is there a repository of al Qaeda documents stashed away in file cabinets somewhere???

As a procedural matter, I wanted to know why the defense didn't argue the circumstantial nature of that recruitment form. In one respect, I am reminded of the Red Scare in the 1950's when the Senate committees questioned people about their past magazine subscriptions. In many cases, people got nailed becuas ethe Feds had gotten their hands on old mailing lists. How many times have I received complimentary issues of publications I never subscribed to? Lots. I shudder to think ofwhat mailing lists I'm on that I don't even know about.

I myself am satisfied that Padilla set out to do harm. His dirty bomb thing didn't work out, so he went shopping for other options. The fact that existing Federal law isn't so exact as it needs to be put everyone on shaky ground. I have no doubt that Padilla's legal team must be burning the midnight oil as they prepare his appeal. If nothing else, this case (no matter how it turns out) will force Federal officials to revisit what it means to be an unlawful enemy combant.