Jose Padilla, part II

Jose Padilla was in court again today. Here's what happened:

Magistrate Judge Barry Garber presided over the proceedings and asked Jose Padilla if he had an attorney. Mr. Padilla responded that "Andy Patel" was his lawyer. Judge Garber then proceeded to ask Patel about whether he was going to represent Padilla in this case. Patel said that he wasn't a member of the Florida Bar and thought it would be best if the Federal Defender's Office in Miami was lead counsel. Judge Garber thought that was a great idea and asked Chief Assistant Federal Defender Michael Caruso if his office would accept appointment, to which Caruso responded that he would "gladly accept" the appointment.

Judge Garber said he was going to appoint dual counsel, with the Miami Defender's office taking the lead and Patel to serve as co-counsel because he has been in the case since June 2002.

AUSA Stephanie Pell then told the Judge that there was a potential conflict with the Miami office accepting the appointment. Caruso said that his office has reviewed everything and that he could say "without equivocation" that there was no conflict. Garber took the matter up at sidebar and after conferring, he kept the Miami Defenders as lead counsel. While at sidebar, another Public Defender Tony Natale went up to Padilla and explained what was going on. Another defender, Orlando do Campo, was also present for the defense.

Judge Garber then asked the government what its position was on bail. AUSA Pell said that the government was asking for pretrial detention based on risk of flight and danger to the community, to which Judge Garber quipped: "Why am I not surprised?"*

Michael Caruso explained that they would need a continuance to prepare for the hearing, and Judge Garber rescheduled it for January 12th at 10AM. Garber also -- at Caruso's request -- moved the arraignment to that date. Garber said that because of the amount of time he has invested in the case that he would retain it for next week's hearing instead of transferring it to the duty magistrate judge. Judge Garber concluded the hearing by commending the parties for acting in the spirit of cooperation.

*Maybe I should've included J. Garber on the funniest SDFLA judge...

Further notice...

FDC will reopen tomorrow with regular legal and social visits.

FDC-Miami closed until further notice

More news as we get it, but I have to assume this is because Padilla is in the house....

Miami Venue Amicus

The 11th Circuit today permitted the filing of amicus briefs in the Cuban Spy case. If you are wondering why this is blog worthy, see here.

Bond for Padilla's co-defendant

Althought Jose Padilla grabbed all the headlines today, his co-defendant, Kifah Wael Jayyousi, a Jordanian who became a U.S. citizen in 1987, will likely be free pending trial. He won today in front of U.S. District Judge Marcia Cooke who set a $1.3 million bond, ordered electronic monitoring and that he not leave the South Florida area. Jayyousi has been in special solitary confinement since his arrest in March 2005. This is a huge win both for Jayyousi and his lawyer, William Swor, who won't need to spend countless hours in federal criminal defense lawyer's hell -- preparing a case for a client detained in the special housing unit (called the SHU).

BTW, I wonder what Prof. Froomkin thinks now about Judge Cooke.

Jose Padilla's First Appearance

I attended Jose Padilla's first appearance today in the Southern District of Florida. Magistrate Judge Barry Garber presided. The lead Miami prosecutor on the case is Russell Killinger, a well-respected veteran in the Southern District of Florida. In court, Judge Garber told Padilla that his lawyers, Andrew Patel and Donna Newman, called chambers and said they wanted to appear, so the Judge postponed the hearing until tomorrow at 4PM. Just in case, the Miami Federal Public Defender's office was present in court.

Padilla appeared calm in court, answering the Judge politely with short yes-or-no responses. Garber explained to Padilla his rights, which was interesting as Padilla has been held for the past three years while lawyers wrangled over what sorts of rights he has.

Padilla had a short haircut. He was wearing glasses, black sneakers and an orange jumpsuit. The amount of security was amazing. Helicopters were flying over the courthouse. There were numerous marshals and court security officers in the courtroom. And there was lots of press. I'm sure they were disappointed by the three minute hearing.

Nevertheless, there was a certain electricity in the courtroom. The Southern District is a very exciting place to practice law right now, especially with Padilla and Abramoff fighting for above-the-fold coverage.

Jack Abramoff's hats

So everyone can see what the comment below was referring to, here are the two hats Abramoff wore for the DC plea and the Miami plea.

And the Justice Building Blog calls us too law based...

Bigger than Abramoff?

The Supreme Court agreed with the government's request to transfer Padilla to the Southern District of Florida to face criminal charges here. Nothing in the order... Just a summary thing. Here is SCOTUS Blog's summary of the action. Now it's a toss-up between Abramoff and Padilla for biggest case in the country right now...