[Infowarrior] - U.S. Apologizes to Mistaken Terrorism Suspect

[Richard Forno]

U.S. Apologizes to Mistaken Terrorism Suspect

By Dan Eggen
Washington Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, November 29, 2006; 3:08 PM

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/11/29/AR2006112901
179_pf.html

The U.S. government has agreed to pay $2 million to an Oregon lawyer who was
wrongfully arrested as a terrorism suspect because of a bungled fingerprint
match and has issued an apology for the "suffering" inflicted on the
attorney and his family.

Under the terms of the settlement announced today, Brandon Mayfield of
Portland, Ore., will also be able to continue to pursue a lawsuit
challenging the constitutionality of the USA Patriot Act antiterrorism law,
which played a role in Mayfield's case.

The monetary payment amounts to an embarrassing admission of wrongdoing by
the FBI, which arrested and detained Mayfield as a material witness in May
2004 after FBI examiners wrongly linked him to a portion of a fingerprint
found on a bag of detonators during the investigation of the Madrid commuter
train bombings.

Subsequent investigations have also found that the FBI compounded its error
by failing to adhere to its own rules for handling evidence and by resisting
the conclusions of the Spanish National Police, which quickly determined
that the fingerprint belonged to someone else.

Mayfield--who was held for two weeks and who was subjected to surveillance
and secret searches of his home and office--said in a statement issued by
his attorneys that he was threatened with the death penalty while in custody
and that he and his family were targeted "because of our Muslim religion."

"The power of the government to secretly search your home or business
without probable cause, under the guise of an alleged terrorist
investigation, must be stopped," Mayfield said. "I look forward to the day
when the Patriot Act is declared unconstitutional, and all citizens are safe
from unwarranted arrest and searches by the Federal Government."

Mayfield and his attorneys, including celebrity defense lawyer Gerry Spence
of Jackson Hole, Wyo., are scheduled to hold a news conference later today
in Portland, Ore.

Justice Department spokeswoman Tasia Scolinos issued a statement emphasizing
that the FBI was not aware of Mayfield's Muslim faith when he was first
identified as part of the fingerprint match, and that the FBI "did not
misuse any provisions of the USA Patriot Act."

Scolinos also said the FBI has implemented reforms to avoid a similar
mistake in the future.

According to a press release from Mayfield and his attorneys, the government
has agreed to destroy all material obtained during electronic surveillance
of him and from clandestine searches of his home and office.

The government also issued a formal apology to Mayfield, his wife and his
three children for "the suffering caused by the FBI's misidentification of
Mr. Mayfield's fingerprint and the resulting investigation of Mr. Mayfield,
including his arrest as a material witness in connection with the 2004
Madrid train bombings and the execution of search warrants and other court
orders in the Mayfield family home and in Mr. Mayfield's law office."

The apology also "acknowledges that the investigation and arrest were deeply
upsetting" to Mayfield and his family and that the U.S. government "regrets
that it mistakenly linked Mr. Mayfield to this terrorist attack."

Mayfield filed a lawsuit against the Justice Department, the FBI and several
FBI employees in October 2004 alleging civil rights violations, including a
charge that he was arrested because he is a Muslim who had represented some
defendants with alleged terrorism ties.

A report issued in March 2006 by Justice Department Inspector General Glenn
A. Fine found that although Mayfield's religion "was not the sole or primary
cause" of the initial identification, it contributed to the FBI's reluctance
to reexamine the case after it was challenged by the Spanish police.

That same report also found that the FBI used expanded powers under the
Patriot Act to demand personal information about Mayfield from banks and
other companies, and that the law "amplified the consequences" of the FBI's
mistakes by allowing numerous government agencies to share the flawed
conclusions.

The FBI and Justice Department--while acknowledging some mistakes in the
case--have said repeatedly that there were unusual similarities between
Mayfield's fingerprints and the one found on the bag of detonators, which
was eventually identified as belonging to an Algerian national named Ouhnane
Daoud. Officials have also denied that Mayfield's status as a Muslim convert
influenced the FBI's treatment of him.

On March 11, 2004, terrorists later linked to al-Qaeda detonated bombs on
several commuter trains in Madrid, killing 191 people. The FBI assisted
Spanish police by comparing latent prints found on a bag of detonators
nearby against its massive fingerprint database, which includes prints from
former U.S. soldiers.

On March 19, the FBI lab identified 20 possible matches for one of the
prints; two FBI examiners and a unit chief narrowed the match down to
Mayfield. Spanish police conducted their own fingerprint analysis and
informed the FBI on April 13, 2004, that its result was negative for
Mayfield. The FBI disputed that finding, even dispatching an examiner to
Madrid to press its case.

Fine's report concluded that FBI examiners made a number of errors,
including using "circular reasoning" to firm up their conclusion and
ignoring rules that an identification must be ruled out if there is an
unexplained discrepancy between the prints.

FBI examiners had no way of knowing Mayfield's religion or occupation when
they first identified him as a suspect, Fine's report said, but those
factors likely influenced their conclusions in the weeks that followed.