Portland man arrested in connection with Madrid terror attacks released

By Rukmini Callimachi
The Associated Press

DON RYAN / AP "I want to thank my friends and family for what I'll call a harrowing ordeal," Brandon Mayfield said after his release.

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Grasping a Quran and a Muslim prayer rug, 37-year-old Brandon Mayfield was released from federal custody, two weeks following his arrest.

His release came hours after Spanish officials said fingerprints found on a bag near the bombing site in Spain were those of an Algerian. U.S. authoritities had previously said Mayfield's prints were on the bag, which contained explosive detonators similar to those used in the March 11 bombings that killed 191 people and injured 2,000 others.

Grasping his wife Mona's hand, Mayfield walked out the federal courthouse in downtown Portland.

"I want to thank my friends and family for what I'll call a harrowing ordeal," he said, then thanked the Multnomah County jail for the gift of the Quran and the prayer rug.

In Arabic and then in English, Mayfield, a convert to Islam, recited the Muslim prayer: "God is great. There is no God but God."

His three children, ages 10, 12 and 15 rushed up to him on his release. His wife's eyes filled with tears.

Mayfield, who ran a small, struggling Portland law firm, was arrested May 6. Senior law enforcement officials in Washington, D.C., speaking on condition of anonymity, said the FBI had Mayfield's home under surveillance for weeks — but had hastened to arrest him because they feared word of their investigation would leak.

U.S. Public Defender Steve Wax said that a gag order issued by a federal judge remained in place, preventing him from discussing details of Mayfield's release.

"The reality of this case is that some breaks in that secrecy — some leaks — have been quite harmful to Mr. Mayfield," he said.

Mayfield was arrested on a material witness warrant, under a statute that allows the government to hold a potential suspect without formally charging them. The statute carries a high-level of secrecy.

Mayfield's family has insisted he is innocent. They also say he has not been out of the country for at least a decade, and could not have been in Spain.

It is not clear whether the investigation against Mayfield has been dropped.

Beth Anne Steele, a spokeswoman for the FBI in Portland, said she could not comment because "it is a pending grand jury matter." But she would not say whether the grand jury was weighing an indictment against Mayfield. Justice Department officials in Washington declined to comment on the case.

In Madrid late Monday, authorities said the fingerprints found on the plastic bag belonged to an Algerian, Ouhnane Daoud. The Europa Press news agency reported Daoud had a residency permit to live in Spain and had a police record.

"The extensive and meticulous work of the Spanish scientific police has determined completely that the fingerprint identifications are of the medium and thumb fingers of the Algerian's right hand," Spanish authorities said.

Spanish police made no reference to the claim earlier this month by the FBI that a fingerprint from the bag belonged to Mayfield.

Police declined to say whether other prints may be on the bag.

Earlier, Spanish police said only eight matching points linked the print to Mayfield, but FBI agents said they found 15 coinciding points.

The bag was found in a van hours after the blasts in or near downtown Madrid during the morning rush hour when trains were crowded with passengers. The van had been left near the train station of Alcala de Henares from which three of the four bombed trains had departed.

Copyright © 2004 The Seattle Times Company

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