Portland man innocent in Madrid train bombing, family says

[icymist]

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2001923229_mayfield08m.html

Saturday, May 08, 2004 - Page updated at 12:21 A.M.

Portland man innocent in Madrid train bombing, family says

By Hal Bernton and David Heath
Seattle Times staff reporters

PORTLAND — A soft-spoken lawyer struggling to build a small practice here has suddenly been swept into an international investigation of the Madrid train bombing — the biggest terrorist attack since Sept. 11, 2001.

Law-enforcement authorities say fingerprint evidence may link Muslim convert and former Army Lt. Brandon Mayfield to a bag in Spain that contained detonators. But his family insists he is an innocent man caught up in an investigation that somehow took a wrong turn.

"I guarantee you that my brother has nothing to do with this," said Kent Mayfield, referring to the March 11 bombing that killed 191 people and injured more than 2,000.

"Anyone who knows him knows that it's just completely ridiculous," said his father, Bill Mayfield of Halstead, Kan., a small town north of Wichita where Mayfield grew up.

The U.S. Attorney's Office in Portland yesterday wouldn't acknowledge that Mayfield was detained Thursday and is being held as a material witness. He has not been charged.

(more)

[lupita]

1. I happen to know this family...

I have known them for a couple of years. They are incredibly good people. I can't believe any of this alegations.

[KiloForAngelese]

2. That's good enough for me

If is family says he is innocent then it must be true. Let him go free. Any lawyer that defends immigrants must be innocent.

[struggle4progress]

3. Well ...

0. This article says no charges filed
1. Spain has apparently backed off on the fingerprint ID
2. He apparently hasn't left the country for years and years
and
3. *&co now have a bit of a history using the law to persecute uppity lawyers

So

(a) I'm skeptical about what the FIB is up to
and
(b) don't understand what you're trying to say

[dax]

4. Its the news cycle-get your mind right!

They will use anything to distract from the latest scandal. They will destroy an innocent man and family just to have a story that serves the propaganda purpose. This one really does-implies that they are on the job tearing down the terrorist network (WE KNOW THEY ARE NOT) implies even your neighbor could be one ramp up the fear, keeps a story out to trump the prison scandal that will only get worse, and incidently damages a lawyer who defends "those people-those untrustworthy muslims we all need to now objectify to justify what is being done in the name of so-called freedom. so much for INNOCENT until proven guilty. the local headlines all but convicted the man when there was virtually NO EVIDENCE according to the Spanish authorities. Thank heavens they have a few honest cops in Spain that Rove can't get to (not yet anyway).