In order to participate in the GunBroker Member forums, you must be logged in with your GunBroker.com account. Click the sign-in button at the top right of the forums page to get connected.
Charges May Be Dropped Against Taliban Johnny
Josey1
Member Posts: 9,598 ✭✭
Charges May Be Dropped Against Taliban Johnny
Report by J.J. Johnson
Published 05. 6. 02 at 17:14 Sierra Time
ALEXANDRIA, VA - Government prosecutors were left flat-footed today when the 'worse case' scenario came up in a preliminary hearing Monday in U.S. District Court. Lawyers for John Walker Lindh, (a.k.a. Taliban Johnny) made a request to visit and interview detainees at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. This legal maneuver, when it all spills out - may cause the government to drop the indictment against Walker completely.
Sounds crazy, but it's happened before.
Johnny Taliban in Court
CNN Artist Bill Henneessy
Asking permission to interview about 20 of the Taliban and al Qaeda down at "Guantanamo", is not what the U.S. government wants to do. They already brought up "national security" in court on Monday as a reason for that not happening. Well, this doesn't sit well in federal court, where precedent has been set to drop cases if the accuse does not have the ability to face the evidence against him. This happened in the Robert McFarlande case (former Regan National Security Adviser), in which McFarlande won a dismissal of charges when the government refused to turn over evidence against him for 'national security reasons'.
Get this: the Judge has indicated that he would give permission to interview detainees.
Currently, the government has asked for a recess which was granted. U.S. District Judge T.S. Ellis III hinted that if the government refuses to allow interviews with the Cuban POW's, it could spell a dismissal of the Lindh case. The governement again - does not want Lindh defense team (or anyone else) talking to the gang at Gitmo.
Defense lawyers had asked to talk to 77 people they thought might support their contention that Lindh never meant to hurt his countrymen and that he was mistreated before he gave statements to the FBI that form the bulk of the case against him. Fifty-one military and FBI employees declined to be interviewed, and prosecutors are still trying to find two more.
Now the defense team is directing its focus to folks more south. The hope is that some in Cuba may be able to prove that Lindh never fired on any Americans. Legal experts believe that that the legal team led by James Brosnahan is considering calling a large number of witnesses to describe what happened to Lindh during his stint with the Taliban and then during the 54 days he was in U.S. custody before being brought to Alexandria
http://www.sierratimes.com/02/05/07/arjt050702.htm
"If cowardly and dishonorable men sometimes shoot unarmed men with army pistols or guns, the evil must be prevented by the penitentiary and gallows, and not by a general deprivation of a constitutional privilege." - Arkansas Supreme Court, 1878
Report by J.J. Johnson
Published 05. 6. 02 at 17:14 Sierra Time
ALEXANDRIA, VA - Government prosecutors were left flat-footed today when the 'worse case' scenario came up in a preliminary hearing Monday in U.S. District Court. Lawyers for John Walker Lindh, (a.k.a. Taliban Johnny) made a request to visit and interview detainees at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. This legal maneuver, when it all spills out - may cause the government to drop the indictment against Walker completely.
Sounds crazy, but it's happened before.
Johnny Taliban in Court
CNN Artist Bill Henneessy
Asking permission to interview about 20 of the Taliban and al Qaeda down at "Guantanamo", is not what the U.S. government wants to do. They already brought up "national security" in court on Monday as a reason for that not happening. Well, this doesn't sit well in federal court, where precedent has been set to drop cases if the accuse does not have the ability to face the evidence against him. This happened in the Robert McFarlande case (former Regan National Security Adviser), in which McFarlande won a dismissal of charges when the government refused to turn over evidence against him for 'national security reasons'.
Get this: the Judge has indicated that he would give permission to interview detainees.
Currently, the government has asked for a recess which was granted. U.S. District Judge T.S. Ellis III hinted that if the government refuses to allow interviews with the Cuban POW's, it could spell a dismissal of the Lindh case. The governement again - does not want Lindh defense team (or anyone else) talking to the gang at Gitmo.
Defense lawyers had asked to talk to 77 people they thought might support their contention that Lindh never meant to hurt his countrymen and that he was mistreated before he gave statements to the FBI that form the bulk of the case against him. Fifty-one military and FBI employees declined to be interviewed, and prosecutors are still trying to find two more.
Now the defense team is directing its focus to folks more south. The hope is that some in Cuba may be able to prove that Lindh never fired on any Americans. Legal experts believe that that the legal team led by James Brosnahan is considering calling a large number of witnesses to describe what happened to Lindh during his stint with the Taliban and then during the 54 days he was in U.S. custody before being brought to Alexandria
http://www.sierratimes.com/02/05/07/arjt050702.htm
"If cowardly and dishonorable men sometimes shoot unarmed men with army pistols or guns, the evil must be prevented by the penitentiary and gallows, and not by a general deprivation of a constitutional privilege." - Arkansas Supreme Court, 1878