JURIST - Paper Chase: Padilla says FBI evidence against him illegally obtained

[JURIST] A lawyer for terror suspect Jose Padilla [BBC profile; JURIST news archive] has filed a motion to suppress evidence [PDF text; exhibits] he claims the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) [official website] obtained illegally from two sources, one which alleges torture after US rendition to Morocco and another who may have been heavily medicated during interrogation. According to the motion filed last week, Padilla requests that the court toss several pieces of evidence, including a cellular phone allegedly given to Padilla by an al Qaeda member, an address book with the names of al Qaeda members, and $10,000 in cash, because the allegations of torture and possible impairment of the sources taints the statements on which the FBI based its warrant. Padilla attorney Andrew Patel [New York profile] faulted the US for failing to describe the allegations of torture while it procured the warrant and arrested Padilla.

In late April, the federal judge presiding over Padilla's case rejected a bid [JURIST report] by the US Department of Justice [official website] to require all lawyers involved in the trial to never reveal anything classified, and destroy copies of all classified evidence provided so that prosecutors may use evidence gained from secret FBI investigations, materials provided to the US government by foreign governments, and the results of military interrogations of Padilla during his three and a half year military custody as an "enemy combatant." AP has more.

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