Padilla Update
The case against Jose Padilla is looking worse and worse for BushCo.
From MiamiHerald.com:
From MiamiHerald.com:
The U.S. government's high-profile terror case against Jose Padilla and two other Muslims has suffered another serious setback as their Miami trial looms in January.
U.S. District Judge Marcia Cooke threw out the first count in the indictment -- that the threesome conspired to murder, kidnap and maim persons in a foreign country -- saying it repeated the main alleged ''conspiracy to advance violent jihad'' in two other charges.
''There can be no question that the government has charged a single conspiracy offense multiple times, in separate counts, when in law and in fact, only one [alleged] crime has been committed,'' Cooke wrote in an eight-page ruling released to prosecutors and defense lawyers on Monday.
''The danger raised by a multiplicitous indictment is present in the instant indictment,'' she wrote, stressing that it violates the ''double jeopardy'' clause of the Fifth Amendment of the Constitution -- the prosecution or punishment of a defendant twice for the same offense.
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