Saturday, May 08, 2004

Oregon lawyer linked to Madrid bombings - Update

Investigators have linked Portland, Ore., lawyer Brandon Mayfield to the Madrid terrorist bombings through a fingerprint lifted from a bag containing detonators discovered near the train station where three of the four bombed trains originated, according to sources in Spain and the United States familiar with the probe.

...Mayfield's attorney and relatives say they are baffled by the alleged connection between the mild-mannered Muslim convert and the Madrid plot, noting that Mayfield has not been out of the country in more than 10 years.

Mayfield told Thomas Nelson, the Portland lawyer who is acting as his spokesman, that he had never been to Spain, his passport had expired in October of last year, and he had never met anyone from Morocco.

"Brandon is flabbergasted," Nelson said. "He has no explanation for these charges. He thinks this is crazy." Nelson said he believed that Mayfield's only travel abroad had occurred when he was in the Army and serving in Germany.

Nelson complained about a "calculated leak" from the Justice Department to the news media Thursday about Mayfield, telling KATU-TV in Portland that the information had "led to the frenzy that we see out here that is destroying and disparaging his family, his relationships, his children and his law practice. That leak is devastating. It was unnecessary, unethical and inappropriate."
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But totally all-American. The new America. Do the names Valerie Plame and James Yee ring any bells?

Acquaintances in Portland said they did not know of any involvement by Mayfield with militant Islam, though he became tangentially involved with one of six members of a Portland terror cell who pleaded guilty to charges last year. Mayfield defended Jeffrey Leon Battle, who was sentenced to 18 years in prison for conspiring to fight against U.S. troops in Afghanistan, in an unsuccessful bid to retain custody of his son.

"I don't think they knew each other before Mayfield volunteered to represent him in the custody matter," said one defense lawyer involved in the case.


Which may be why he's been targeted. It wouldn't be the first lawyer defending a Muslim since 9/11 who's been seriously harrassed by the government. Does the name Lynne Stewart ring any bells?

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