Breaking: Judge throws out charge against Jose Padilla

[Nimrod2005]

Judge throws out terror conspiracy charge against Jose Padilla, the man arrested as a suspected 'dirty bomber,' CNN confirms. He still faces other terror-related charges.

From CNN.COM

[Nicholas D Wolfwood]

1. This ain't gonna please the freepers.

[Nimrod2005]

2. Tune into Faux to watch heads EXPLODE, all day today...nt

[saigon68]

11. Faux News = Bag of Fart

[0007]

24. Bag of Farts = Mindless farty pants

[MrModerate]

3. "Another brick in the wall" n/t

[Straight Shooter]

20. Another one bites the dust ............ n/t

[iconoclastic cat]

4. Another liberal judge!

"And what else burns, besides witches?"

[ChairmanAgnostic]

13. really small stones?

anyone who supports and upholds the constitution is obviously a traitor.

[damntexdem]

17. Damn activist judges:

always making rulings in their own courtrooms, refusing to simply rule what the prosecution and/or government tells them to.

[displacedtexan]

18. Book paper.

[LA lady]

5. Read Talk Left

Judge Cook is a Bush Appointee

Judge Marcia Cooke has dismissed Count I of the indictment against Jose Padilla because it is multiplicitous. In other words, Count I represents the same offense that is also charged in Counts II and III. An indictment is multiplicitous when it charges a single offense multiple times, in separate counts.

http://talkleft.com/

[Taoschick]

6. Well,

According to the AP:

A federal judge on Monday threw out one count in the terror indictment against alleged al-Qaida operative Jose Padilla and his co-defendants, concluding that it repeated other charges in the same indictment.

http://www.bradenton.com/mld/bradenton/15326872.htm

From what the article states, it's a double jeopardy situation in a case where the prosecutor is throwing everything possible at Padilla and hoping somthing sticks.

[struggle4progress]

31. Judge Throws Out Charges in Padilla Case (NYT)

By ERIC LICHTBLAU
Published: August 22, 2006

... “Charging the defendants with a single offense multiple times is violative of the Double Jeopardy Clause of the Fifth Amendment,” she wrote in a decision dated Friday and released on Monday ...

This is cleaning up the indictment,” Mr. Patel said. “It’s procedural. This is a highly technical legal issue that doesn’t affect the trial at all. It may in a theoretical sense affect the maximum time” faced by Mr. Padilla.

Justice Department officials said they were considering an appeal. The United States attorney in Miami, R. Alexander Acosta, said in a statement, “We stand by the charges in this indictment and will respond after a full review of the court’s order.”

Mr. Padilla, a one-time gang member in Chicago who converted to Islam, was linked in 2002 to a reported plot to detonate a “dirty bomb” on American streets. He was declared an enemy combatant and held in a brig in South Carolina for three and a half years without being charged. The Justice Department, facing a deadline, decided in November to prosecute him in federal court on unrelated terrorism charges.

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/08/22/washington/22padilla....

[The_Casual_Observer]

7. What took her so long?

There was never a real case against that guy. It's just a matter of time before all the charges are dropped.

[CollegeDUer]

8. How much of a limbo has this man been through?

Whether he's guilty or not (and it keeps looking more and more like he's innocent), will he ever get fair trial and justice?

[Supersedeas]

21. Ashcroft and Al Gonzo must really be proud

[redqueen]

9. This is meaningless... no substance here at all.

All she's done is eliminate dupcicate charges, the other (apparently nearly identical) charges stand.

[daleo]

15. I think it has some implications

The judge is definitely slapping down the prosecution. I don't think it bodes well for the remaining charges. The prosecution was trying to overwhelm the defense and intimidate the defendant by charging him multiple times with the same offense. That probably means their case isn't very strong.

[cal04]

10. Judge tosses 1 charge in Padilla case

A federal judge on Monday threw out one count in the terror indictment against alleged al-Qaida operative Jose Padilla and his co-defendants, concluding that it repeated other charges in the same indictment.

The ruling by U.S. District Judge Marcia Cooke leaves intact two other terror-related counts against Padilla and the others alleging a conspiracy to provide material support to Islamic extremist causes worldwide.

The count that was dropped charged a conspiracy to "murder, kidnap and maim persons in a foreign country."

Cooke ruled that charge was unnecessary because the alleged illegal acts were already covered by the other terror-related counts in the indictment. Prosecuting all three charges, she said, would violate the Constitution's ban against double jeopardy, or prosecution of the same charges twice.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060821/ap_on_re_us/padilla...

[cosmicdot]

30. Judge Marcia Cooke was appointed by Bu$h**

she replaced Clinton-appointee Wilkie D. Ferguson who died in 2003

http://www.fjc.gov/public/home.nsf/hisj

Cooke, Marcia G.

Born 1954 in Sumter, SC

Federal Judicial Service:
Judge, U. S. District Court, Southern District of Florida
Nominated by George W. Bush on November 25, 2003, to a seat vacated by Wilkie D. Ferguson; Confirmed by the Senate on May 18, 2004, and received commission on May 18, 2004.

U.S. Magistrate (Judge), U.S. District for the Eastern District of Michigan, 1984-1992

Education:
Georgetown University, B.S.F.S., 1975

Wayne State University Law School, J.D., 1977

Professional Career:
Staff attorney, Neighborhood Legal Services, Michigan, 1978-1979
Deputy public defender, Legal Aid and Defender Association, Michigan, 1979-1980
Assistant U.S. attorney, Eastern District of Michigan, 1980-1983
Private practice, Michigan, 1983-1984
Director of professional development and training, U.S. Attorney's Office, Southern District of Florida, 1992, 1994-1999
Executive assistant U.S. attorney, Southern District of Florida, 1992-1994
Chief inspector general, Executive Office of the Governor, Florida, 1999-2002
Assistant county attorney, Miami-Dade County, Florida, 2002-2004

Race or Ethnicity: African American

Gender: Female

[Jim__]

12. The judge must be a "tourist" sympathizer. - n/t

[daleo]

14. So what are the other charges?

Did they just throw so many charges at him that something would stick, by exhausting the defense?

I don't see this on the CNN website yet.

[Kagemusha]

16. If the charges were multiplicitous this is essentially a routine ruling.

The prosecution shouldn't have brought the conspiracy charge along with charging him for actual acts of terrorism that he conspired to do. Basic stuff.

Not that I'm displeased. But I would not read deeper things into it.

[radwriter0555]

19. I predicted this within days of his being picked up. They never had one

single thing on this guy.

[Nimrod2005]

22. Soon, there will be only ONE charge left...Being a Moslim!

As soon as the non-activist courts make it a crime to be a Moslim in American or convert to Islam.

[Canuckistanian]

28. Or attempted Muslim-related activities

And the punishment for that is a semester at Liberty University Re-education Camp.

[thepurpose]

23. Damn. Just how many beatings can these people take. They must to be in

to losing.

[freethought]

25. The only thing Padilla has asked for is his day in court

And it looks like he's getting it, finally.

IMHO the arrest of Jose Padilla is one the biggest blunders of this admin. Granted, not nearly as big as Iraq. If Bushco had any sense they would have put him under surveillance. Clearly he was a small fish that might have lead to bigger fish. Politics of fear plays the primary role in BushCo.

Let's see how this all plays out. It's remotely possible, although highly unlikely, that he could walk.

[leesa]

26. None of these charges have stuck for any of these so-called terrorists

Every country ends up letting them go. Another frame-up bites the dust.

[Mr_Spock]

27. Terra! Terra! Terra!

Perhaps we should go find some Japanese to intern now

Morons.

[PurityOfEssence]

29. He's the forgottten poster child of monarchic Bush tyranny

Here's a U.S. citizen who's been in extralegal custody for seemingly forever.

Let him speak in public.