Terrorism Defense Attorney Runs Off At Mouth, Loses to Expert

By Andrew Cochran

Another set of terrorism defense attorneys tried to disqualify Evan Kohlmann as an expert witness in his client's trial and met the same fate as their peers in other trials, failing miserably. In the meantime, one terrorism defense attorney from another case grossly misrepresented Evan's stellar credentials and thereby also insulted a number of federal judges who have certified Evan's expert qualifications.

Evan was asked to testify in the Albany, NY case of two Muslim men charged with conspiring to launder $50,000 from the sale of a shoulder-fired missile in an FBI sting focused on plans to assassinate Pakistan's U.N. ambassador in New York. The defense attorneys filed a motion to disqualify Evan, which led a reporter covering a case to ask Marvin Miller, one of the defense attorneys in the multi-defendant "Virginia jihad" case, about Evan. Miller aimed his best verbal volley at Evan and, indirectly, every federal judge before whom Evan has testifed: "He is young. He doesn't have experience. He's never done any original research... He runs off at the mouth and a lot of judges won't control him the way they will other witnesses."

If you follow terrorism trials, you'll understand why Mr. Miller is a little hyper-sensitiive about Evan. In the "Virginia jihad" case of Ali Chandia this year - the one in which Mr. Miller lost, with his client going to jail - the government presented a 12-page document opposing Miller's motion to exclude Evan, and the judge agreed with the government.

Naturally, the judge in the Albany case gave short shrift to the motion to exclude, and Evan testified on Wednesday on the defendants' ties to the Islamic Movement of Kurdistan (IMK) and Pakistan-based Jaish-e-Mohammed. I say "naturally" because every single judge who has reviewed Evan's credentials has found him qualified as an expert witness. Other terrorism-centered cases in which he has testified include the Paracha case involving aid to Al Qaeda, the Ali al-Timimi case associated with the "Virginia jihad" cases, the Jose Padilla case in Florida, and cases in Bosnia and the UK. In the al-Timimi case, Judge Brinkema announced, ""(T)his court has watched him testify and he is in my view well qualified to testify."

Mr. Miller should stop slandering expert witnesses in the press. I doubt he will win many points from the judges who keep certifying Evan as an expert.

TrackBack