So the guy was a criminal afterall.
Jury finds Padilla guilty on terror charges MIAMI, Florida (CNN) -- The jury in the Jose Padilla terror trial has found the American guilty of conspiracy to support Islamic terrorism overseas.
Jose Padilla was originally accused of planning a "dirty bomb" attack in the U.S.
Padilla was originally arrested on accusations that he planned to set off radioactive "dirty bombs" in the United States. Thursday's convictions are not related to those accusations, and prosecutors did not present the "dirty bomb" plot to the jury.
Padilla's two co-defendants, Adham Hassoun and Kifan Jayyousi, were also found guilty on the three counts as charged: conspiracy to murder, kidnap, and maim people in a foreign country; conspiracy to provide material support for terrorists, and providing material support for terrorists.
The verdict came after less than two days of deliberations by the federal jury in Miami.
Sentencing is set for December 5. All three defendants face life in prison.
Padilla pleaded not guilty. At his trial, defense attorneys argued Padilla went overseas only to study Islam.
After the decision was announced, Padilla's mother, Estella Lebron, told CNN her son will appeal the verdict.
"I'm not surprised by anything in this place anymore," she said. "This is a Republican city."
The verdict is a "critical vindication" for the U.S. Department of Justice and its post-9/11 strategy for prosecuting terrorism cases, said Kendall Coffey, former U.S. attorney in Miami who comments on legal matters for CNN.
"I think this is huge for DOJ," he said, "given the case's background of controversy and the government's mixed results in other (terror) trials."
He said the verdict also raises questions about whether military tribunals are necessary.
"Critics of the post-9/11 war on terrorism can point to this and say you don't need military tribunals, you can get the job done with civilian trials," Coffey said.
During the trial, prosecutors played more than 70 intercepted phone calls among the defendants for jurors, including seven that featured Padilla, 36. He is a Brooklyn-born convert to Islam.
FBI agent John Kavanaugh testified that the calls were made in code, which Padilla used to discuss traveling overseas to fight with Islamic militants, along with side trips to Saudi Arabia and Afghanistan.
In closing arguments, Padilla's lawyers argued he never spoke in code. His voice is heard on only seven of 300,000 taped conversations.
They also tried to rebut a key piece of prosecution evidence -- an al Qaeda terrorist training camp application or "mujahedeen data form."
A covert CIA officer -- who testified in disguise at Padilla's trial -- said he was given the form in Afghanistan, and a fingerprint expert found Padilla's prints on the form, prosecutors said.
But Michael Caruso, Padilla's defense attorney, said the prints on the form were not consistent with someone who filled out the document.
"Jose at some point handled the document, but did not fill out the form," Caruso said.
Just as prosecutors did not present the dirty bomb plot to the jury, neither were jurors told that Padilla was held in a Navy brig for 3½ years without charges before his indictment in the Miami case.
Before trial, his lawyers tried to argue that he was no longer mentally competent to stand trial after years of solitary confinement and abuse -- allegations the government strongly denied.
Padilla was taken into custody in Chicago as he stepped off a flight from Pakistan in 2002, and President Bush declared him an "enemy combatant" and had him transferred to military custody.
The Supreme Court ducked the chance to rule on the legality of Padilla's detention in 2006, arguing that the issue was moot after his transfer to civilian custody for the Miami trial.
http://www.cnn.com/2007/US/08/16/padilla.verdict/index.html
