courtroom.jpgFriday June 1 — From Carol J. Williams at the Los Angeles Times : 

In testimony that appeared to backfire for the prosecution, an ex convict who attended the same mosque as terrorism suspect Jose Padilla testified Thursday that he himself had considered going abroad for training to become an Islamic holy warrior, as Padilla allegedly did.

Herbert Atwell, 38, was the second prosecution witness to characterize the alleged actions of Padilla and two codefendants not as terrorism but as acts of altruism in helping Muslims under siege in foreign countries.(Emphasis added.)

One reporter on the scene who asked not to be quoted by name said the prosecution’s tactic was “throwing a lot of frightening insinuations at the jury and hoping they follow.”

June 1 Friday – This week and a large portion of next week is expected to be taken up with playing portions of the hard evidence in this conspiracy case which consists of 230 out of 300,000 taped telephone conversations.  Friday excerpts from the tapes of conversations between alleged co-conspirators Adhan Amim Haussoun and Kifah Wael Jayyousi were played.  These excerpts didn’t have Padilla’s voice or even a reference to him.

Hausson’s defense attorney Ken Swartz objected to the playing of these excerpts, claiming it was “an attempt to get Osama bin Laden’s name in front of the jury. They want to show that because these men talk about him, they must support him.” To which Assistant U.S. Attorney Russell Killingwer repeatedly responded that the jury can make up their own minds what the calls mean.”
                
Killinger may come to regret those words. The Associated Press on that same day filed a motion requiring prosecutors to provide copies of the wiretap audio as well as paper exhibits on the same day as they are introduced as evidence. The judge took the motion under advisement.

The early published reports on Miami Federal District Court Judge Marcia Cooke’s conduct of the Padilla trial have been generally favorable, but there is grumbling, and arched eyebrows over  the narrowness of her approach to her own courtroom. She’s getting some push back but not from defense attorneys – they’re too bruised and battered. It’s coming from the media who, finally, has developed some spine.            

At first it appeared that Judge Cook might take a somewhat even-handed approach. One of her first decisions was to prevent Padilla from being dragged into the courtroom in shackles and chains. Then she took the much bolder step of dismissing the government’s charges of “conspiracy to murder, kidnap, and maim persons in foreign countries.” because it duplicated the two other charges against Padilla and his two co-conspirators which carry a penalty of fifteen years maximum.

In an unusually brief period of time – three weeks, so swift as to be insulting, like a smackdown – the 11th Ciruit Court of Appeals reinstated the “murder, kidnap and maim” charge. The government prosecutors were, naturally, delighted. It  was perhaps at that moment Judge Cooke realized that any decision she made, other than the most conservative, was going to be quickly reviewed and overruled by this ultra conservative Court of Appeals.

Still Judge Cooke had been given high marks from the two more experienced journalists – the  AP’s Curt Anderson and the Sun-Sentinel's Vanessa Blum.

Two events at the Padilla trial so far, have led me to question the high marks on Cooke’s report card.. Out of nowhere, Judge Cooke got her robes twisted in a bunch over a minor mix-up that could have been resolved with one phone call or a meeting in chambers.  

CBS Radio wanted to install a direct line for its reporter to file reports and initiated paperwork with AT&T to install it. Nothing new. This had been done in several other high profile federal court cases.  The clerk’s office, however, rejected the CBS request and CBS did not pursue the matter. The AT&T installers – who never got the word that they were not needed – showed up with a “Hey, where do we install he direct line?” Judge Cooke exploded, demanding to know why CBS should not be held in contempt. An attorney for CBS had to show up in court and explain the-no-harm-no-foul-mix up.

Then Judge Cooke issued an outrageous order that in my 40 plus years of journalism and covering courtroom trials – including the madness of the Conspiracy 8 case in Chicago in 1969 with Federal Judge Julius Hoffman – was never executed. Without putting a word in writing (which would have allowed for a challenge) Judge Cooke had her marshals bully-walk reporters out of the courtroom if they sought — outside the presence of the jury and judge — to speak or approach the prosecution or defense attorneys. Reporters were unable to check the spelling of attorneys own names or the correct title of a witness.

In spite of Cooke’s gag order on lawyers and her quick-draw contempt of court tactics, Judge Cooke is sounding relatively reasonable, at least as compared to Julius Hoffman who handed out contempt of court sentences ranging from two and a half months to four years to offending attorneys. We will have to see in her rulings during the coming weeks whether Judge Cook will bring a measure of fairness to the Padilla case (missing for a very long time) or continue to put unreasonable restrictions on the media that open  her up to being judged as playing to her base – Jeb and George W.

     

 

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