Padilla trial doesn't fit its initial billing

MIAMI — For a defendant whose name is known around the world, Jose Padilla has become almost a bit player in his terrorism support trial.

Prosecutors rested their case Friday after nine weeks, 22 witnesses and dozens of FBI wiretap intercepts played at trial, most of them in Arabic with written translations for jurors. Defense lawyers for Padilla and his two co-defendants begin presenting their case next week.

Much is at stake for the government, which once heralded Padilla's arrest as a success in the war on terror, accused him in an al-Qaida "dirty-bomb" plot, and held him for 3 ½ years as an enemy combatant.

Padilla's voice was heard on only seven intercepts, a tiny fraction of the 300,000 collected by the FBI during the long investigation.

Padilla was never linked to any specific acts of terrorism or murder and, unlike his co-defendants, he was not accused of using purported code words such as "tourism" for "jihad" or "eggplant" for "rocket-propelled grenade."

"Although everyone has been referring to this case as the Padilla trial, the government's case against Padilla has been pretty thin," said David Markus, a Miami defense attorney who has written frequently about the case on his legal blog. "I'm sure the government lawyers are sweating quite a bit right now."

Padilla, a 36-year-old Muslim convert, was arrested in 2002 as he got off a plane in Chicago, returning from Pakistan. He was carrying $10,526, a cellphone and e-mail addresses for al-Qaida operatives and was accused of being part of an al-Qaida plot to set off a radioactive "dirty bomb" in the United States.

President Bush declared him an enemy combatant, and the military held him for 3 ½ years. Just before the administration had to justify that decision to the Supreme Court, he was transferred to civilian custody and added in late 2005 to the Miami terrorism support case.

The "dirty-bomb" allegations were dropped, and alleged admissions Padilla made to interrogators in a Navy brig during his confinement have not been presented during the trial. That's partly because Padilla was not allowed to consult an attorney during questioning, but prosecutors also don't want to discuss how Padilla was treated at the brig. Padilla's lawyers have said the conditions amounted to torture.

The key to the case against Padilla, according to attorneys and legal experts, is how much weight jurors give to the five-page "mujahedeen data form" he allegedly filled out in July 2000 to attend an al-Qaida training camp in Afghanistan. Seven of Padilla's fingerprints are on the form, which the CIA recovered in Afghanistan in December 2001.

"The question is whether the defense has a plausible theory for how Padilla's fingerprints got on the form that doesn't implicate him," said Stephen Vladeck, law professor at American University in Washington, D.C.

The form also serves to link Padilla co-defendants Adham Amin Hassoun and Kifah Wael Jayyousi, both 45, to al-Qaida. Most of the other evidence concerns actions that Hassoun and Jayyousi supposedly took to benefit Islamic extremists around the world.

Former Miami U.S. Attorney Guy Lewis said prosecutors often are forced to present a "watered-down" case when much evidence is classified to protect national security.

"It's a loose-knit conspiracy with very few overt acts," Lewis said. "You didn't catch them committing a terrorist act. Talk only, and talk is cheap."

The three defendants face life in prison if convicted on all charges, which include providing material support to terrorists, and conspiracy to murder, kidnap and maim people overseas.

The defense says its case will focus on expert witnesses who can provide an alternative view of history, Islamic principles and global politics for the jury.

Defense lawyers have suggested that Hassoun and Jayyousi wanted to help oppressed and persecuted Muslims with humanitarian aid. Any violence stemmed from armed conflicts involving competing forces rather than acts of terrorism against innocents, they say.