[jyl]

Recall the Portland lawyer who was accused by the FBI of involvement in the Madrid bombings. He wasn't involved, and the FBI even publicly apologized to him, after imprisoning him for two weeks, searching his and his clients' confidential files, and slandering him worldwide. But, fortunately, they couldn't simply make him disappear, nor could they torture him - at least not under the law in 2004.

Associated Press: FBI Apologizes to Lawyer Detained in Madrid Bombings

FBI Apologizes to Lawyer Detained in Madrid Bombings
Associated Press

Tuesday, May 25, 2004

Portland, Oregon, attorney Brandon Mayfield was mistakenly detained by the FBI in connection with the bombing attacks in Madrid after authorities mismatched fingerprints found in Spain.

LOS ANGELES, May 25 (MASNET & News Agencies) - The Federal Bureau of Investigation apologized to an American lawyer mistakenly detained for two weeks, often manacled and chained, as a material witness on suspicion of involvement in the deadly Madrid train bombings.

The rare public FBI apology came after a U.S. federal judge on Monday threw out the case against attorney Brandon Mayfield, 37, four days after he was freed from jail after being dramatically held in an embarrassing case of mistaken identity resulting from a fingerprint mismatch, reports Agence France-Presse (AFP).

"The FBI apologizes to Mr. Mayfield and his family for the hardships that this matter has caused," a statement from the federal law enforcement agency said.

Mayfield, a convert to Islam who represented a high-profile terror suspect in a child custody case in his home city of Portland, Oregon, was held by authorities on May 6 after he was linked to a fingerprint found on a bag containing detonators and explosives discovered at a site linked to the March 11 terror bombings in Spain.

"Soon after the submitted fingerprint was associated with Mr. Mayfield, Spanish authorities alerted the FBI to additional information that cast doubt on our findings," the FBI said.

"Upon review it was determined that the FBI identification was based on an image of substandard quality, which was particularly problematic because of the remarkable number of points of similarity between Mr. Mayfield's prints and the print details in the images submitted to the FBI," it said.

The bureau said its Latent Fingerprint Unit would review its practices and consider adopting new guidelines for its experts examining latent fingerprints taken from items which they do not have in their possession.

On Monday, federal Judge Robert Jones dismissed the "material witness" proceedings against Mayfield after Spanish authorities linked the latent fingerprint found near the bomb site to an Algerian.

"Due to the misidentification by the FBI of a fingerprint, the court orders the material witness proceeding dismissed," the judge wrote in a terse document.

Jones also ordered all seized evidence, including money taken from Mayfield's safe deposit box, to be returned to Mayfield and that sealed documents linked to his May 6 arrest be made public.

Mayfield had strenuously denied any involvement in the March 11 bombings of trains in Madrid that killed almost 200 people and injured nearly 2,000, which have been linked to extremists.

Last week, court documents showed, fingerprinting expert Kenneth Moses testified under oath that a latent fingerprint forwarded by the Spanish authorities was that of Mayfield.

"Al-hamdillilah, thank God I'm here," Mayfield told a packed press conference on Monday.

Surrounded by his wife and three children, Mayfield described his imprisonment as "humiliating and embarrassing."

"This whole process has been a harrowing ordeal. It shouldn't happen to anybody," said Mayfield on Monday. "I believe I was singled out and discriminated against, I feel, as a Muslim."

"During my incarceration I was often manacled and chained," he said, mentioning that, initially, he was held in solitary confinement and then in the jail's mental ward.

He declined to say if FBI agents became physical with him when he was arrested, reports Reuters news agency.

Mayfield said he feared for his safety when inmates began to recognize him on the nightly news. In jail, a prison guard told him: "You should watch your back."

"People should wake up. We need to start protecting our civil liberties," he said, also blasting the Patriot Act. "The material witness statute obviously gives the government too much power and must be amended, if not repealed," he said.

Mayfield's defense team is asking the courts to investigate leaks by U.S. government authorities and asking the government to preserve the fingerprint information, but Mayfield declined to say if he would bring legal action against the government, reports Reuters.

The fiasco has "blown my [law] practice completely apart," Mayfield said, because of negative publicity and the fact that agents had access to confidential legal files in his single practitioner office, the news agency reports.

Mayfield expressed concern about others "languishing away" under the material witness law.

This "shouldn't happen to anybody," Mayfield said.

Mayfield, who runs a small Portland law office, was never facing any formal charges. He was arrested as a material witness, and held in the Multnomah County Detention Center on the chance that he might have information about the Spain bombings, reports the Associated Press (AP).

According to court documents, FBI agents began their surveillance of Mayfield two weeks after the attacks in the Spanish capital. Under a provision of the U.S. Patriot Act, they entered his home without his knowledge - but aroused the family's suspicion by bolting the wrong lock on their way out and leaving a footprint on the rug that didn't match any family members, the news agency reports.

During a later raid, FBI agents took Mayfield's computers, modem, safe deposit key, assorted papers, as well as copies of the Qur’an and what they classified as "Spanish documents" - apparently Spanish homework by one of Mayfield's sons.

"I want to thank my family and friends who were supporting me through what I will call a harrowing ordeal," he said after being released last week.

"There's a story to be told here, but now is not the time, and now is not the place. I want to decompress with my family. I had nothing to do with the bombing in Madrid, Spain," he was quoted as saying.

"We need to know more about how this happened," said public defender Steve Wax, who represented Mayfield. "All of us in this country need to know more about how this type of mistake can be made," he was quoted as saying by local media.

"The climate of fear of terror makes this a cautionary tale about the way in which that fear can ensnare an innocent person in the type of abuse to which Mr. Mayfield was subjected," Wax said.