Defense attorneys for Lodi men await transcripts in terror case

[maddezmom]

FATHER, SON LINKED TO TERROR-TRAINING CAMP

By Andrew LaMar

Mercury News Sacramento Bureau


SACRAMENTO - Attorneys for a Lodi ice cream vendor and his son, who are accused of lying about connections to a terrorist training camp in Pakistan, said Monday the government was withholding some statements their clients made to the FBI.

But Johnny Griffin III, the lawyer representing the father, Umer Hayat, praised the government for moving forward with ``the process of giving us what we feel we are entitled to.'' So far, prosecutors have handed over more than 55 pages of interview transcripts and nine CDs of other information, Griffin said.

Hayat, 47, is charged with one count of lying to a federal agent, while his son Hamid Hayat, 22, faces two counts of the same charge. If convicted, the two U.S. citizens could receive eight years in prison for each count.

The government alleges that Hamid Hayat spent six months at a terrorist camp learning ``how to kill Americans'' and that his father funded it with $100 monthly payments. The two confessed to the activity, the government said in an affidavit.

more: http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/news/politics/12003201.htm?source=rss&channel=mercurynews_politics