US terrorism suspect Padilla's trial delayed

[Rose Siding]

MIAMI (Reuters) - Suspected al Qaeda operative Jose Padilla's trial was postponed to January from September on Wednesday because his lawyers asked for more time to review secret documents and translate recorded conversations.

Defense lawyers also said they needed more time to interview witnesses overseas. Some of them were trapped in Beirut last month when war broke out in Lebanon, where they had gone to conduct research and depose witnesses.

U.S. District Judge Marcia Cooke set trial for January 22 for Padilla and two other men who are charged with conspiring to commit murder and aiding terrorists abroad.
...
Padilla's lawyers also asked that he be tried separately from the other defendants, who face perjury and weapons charges that do not involve Padilla. His lawyers said those charges could prejudice the jury and lead them to find Padilla guilty by association.

"Is the wrong defendant making this motion?" the judge joked in an apparent reference to Padilla's dirty bomb notoriety.

http://go.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=politicsNews&storyID=13061482&src=rss/ElectionCoverage

[wtmusic]

1. Well we know that judge is going to be impartial, now don't we?

:eyes:

I wasn't aware "notoriety" was admissible as evidence...