Padilla Case Proves System Works

By Bill West

Jose Padilla and his two co-defendants in their Miami Federal terror trial have been convicted of all counts by a trial jury in US District Court today. After several months of trial, the US Government proved its case against the defendants beyond a reasonable doubt. The hard working prosecutors and investigators responsible for bringing this case to a successful conclusion should be congratulated. The jury of American citizens who did their duty and fairly heard the evidence and rendered the verdicts should be thanked by all Americans who value our system of justice. This long, complex and difficult case demonstrates how that criminal justice system can and does work.

This case was truly a multi-year and multi-agency effort that evolved as unique terror circumstances became identified. The investigating agents and the prosecutors adapted and reacted professionally and effectively over a necessarily long period of time. Not to be lost in all this is how the original “take down” of the case began as an immigration matter. Defendant Adham Hassoun was initially arrested and charged in the summer of 2002 with a deportation violation and successfully detained on that offense for more than a year. He was then criminally charged with being an illegal alien in unlawful possession of a firearm, a handgun found in his possession when he was arrested on the immigration charge.

Those valid deportation and subsequent firearms felony violations allowed prosecutors to finalize the larger terrorism case against Hassoun and his co-defendant Kifan Jayyousi. Part of that case preparation identified the involvement of defendant Jose Padilla and that allowed for the option of including Padilla in the Miami criminal prosecution in lieu of being considered an “enemy combatant.” While the full details of how this investigation and prosecution was conducted and evolved over more than a decade will likely never be publicly known, what is known and the successful results reflect how cooperative law enforcement and intelligence and prosecution work can and does succeed in the national security and terrorism arena. It particularly demonstrates the high value of quality immigration investigative law enforcement capability supporting this arena.

With these convictions, and the strong likelihood of the defendants facing life sentences, we might expect one or more to suddenly decide a cooperative stance relative to the US Government might be a better posture. With that, there may be a number of others “out there” who should be very concerned.

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