U.S. attorney is terrorist suspect in Spain

Oregon Attorney Arrested Over
Possible Tie to Spain Bombings
FBI says a fingerprint links the Islam convert
to evidence in Madrid attacks that killed 191.

By Richard B. Schmitt, Mark Z. Barabak and Sebastian Rotella
Times Staff Writers
May 7, 2004


Brandon Mayfield

ALOHA, Ore. — A Portland lawyer was detained Thursday by the FBI after federal officials linked his fingerprint to bomb-related evidence associated with the Madrid railway attacks that killed 191 people in March, a federal law enforcement official said.

The arrest of Brandon Mayfield, 37, raises the possibility of a U.S. connection to the March 11 bombings, which Spanish authorities have blamed on Islamic extremists.

The former Army officer, a Muslim convert, was held on a material-witness warrant after the FBI searched his home in the Portland suburb of Aloha. Mayfield's arrest was first reported Thursday on Newsweek magazine's website.

He has not been charged with any crime, and the federal official stressed that the investigation was continuing and is in many ways preliminary. Spanish officials cautioned earlier this week that they did not consider the fingerprint evidence to be conclusive.

Material-witness warrants are used by the government to hold people suspected of having direct knowledge about a crime or to give agents more time to investigate.

A native of Coos Bay, Ore., Mayfield is married and has three children. He converted to Islam in 1989 and attends a mosque in Beaverton, Ore., that also was searched by FBI agents Thursday. His military record was unavailable Thursday night.

Beth Anne Steele, a spokeswoman for the FBI in Portland, confirmed that two search warrants were served Thursday in Washington County, which includes Aloha, but declined to comment further.

Outside Mayfield's home, a small white clapboard structure in a working-class neighborhood 10 miles west of downtown Portland, TV news crews and curiosity seekers gathered as word of the arrest spread.

Neighbors described Mayfield family members, who have lived in Aloha for about 2 1/2 years, as courteous and hard-working. One said Mayfield was outside tending his tomato patch Thursday morning before the FBI arrived. Other than someone peering through the blinds, no one responded to knocks on the door seeking comment.

Roy and Arlene Witt, both 71, who live next door, recalled having a chicken dinner at the Mayfield residence. The evening began when the Mayfields sent one of their daughters over with a written invitation. Once the guests arrived, they found the house so sparsely furnished that the hosts sat on the floor.

"He's just a hard-working American man, father and husband, as far as I know," Roy Witt said.

Mayfield's brother Kent, reached at his home in Halstead, Kan., told Reuters that his brother was a vocal critic of U.S. foreign policy but no terrorist.

"I think the reason they are holding him is because he is of the Muslim faith and because he is not super happy with the Bush administration," the brother said. "So if that's a crime, well, you can burn half of us."

Mayfield also had an indirect link to the "Portland Seven" terrorism case brought by the Justice Department last year.

He had served as a child-custody lawyer for one of the defendants, Jeffrey Battle, who pleaded guilty to conspiracy to wage war against the United States.

Other defendants pleaded guilty to lesser charges of conspiring to support Al Qaeda and Afghanistan's former Taliban rulers.

The FBI's interest in Mayfield stems from a fingerprint that turned up on a bag containing detonators and other bomb-related equipment left in the bombers' stolen van found at the Alcala de Henares train station outside Madrid hours after the bombings.

The fingerprint was among the physical evidence that Spanish investigators shared with a special FBI evidence analysis team that traveled to Madrid to assist with the case, according to Spanish and U.S. investigators.

The FBI "document exploitation" team compared the evidence with past terrorism cases and discovered the potential match between one of the numerous fingerprints found in the van and a U.S. citizen with military experience who was already under investigation for suspected terrorist activity.

FBI sources said one of the fingerprints matched Mayfield's. There had been no previous indication that Mayfield had been under investigation for suspected terrorist activity.

The discovery intrigued investigators because of the possible involvement of a U.S. military veteran, a rare figure in Al Qaeda cases, and the suspicion that he could have played a significant role in the plot.

Unlike previous Al Qaeda plots, none of the suspects accused of planting the bombs is known to have trained at the terrorist network's camps in Afghanistan. Spanish police think someone with explosives experience helped the attackers build the bombs at a tumbledown cottage outside Madrid.

The American fits the profile of such a potential lead bomb-maker or trainer, along with two Moroccan fugitives who are hard-core Al Qaeda-trained veterans and potential "field commanders" of the bombing cell, investigators said.

Twelve suspects have been jailed in Spain and a number of others are free but facing indictment. Seven more suspected bombers died last month in a confrontation at an explosives-filled hideout surrounded by police when they blew themselves up.

A senior Spanish investigator told the Los Angeles Times three weeks ago that a fingerprint found in the investigation of the train bombings resembled the fingerprint of a man described as a "U.S. military veteran" wanted by U.S. agents in connection with Islamic terrorism.

In subsequent days, two high-ranking Spanish police officials and a U.S. law enforcement official confirmed to The Times that the lead, involving a U.S. veteran connected to Al Qaeda, was being pursued. The veteran was someone who had been under investigation by U.S. agents for some time, the investigators said.

The lead intrigued Spanish investigators because they thought an operative with knowledge of explosives or military expertise helped the team of mostly Moroccan suspects build the remote-control bombs that were used in the March 11 attacks, which killed 191 people aboard four commuter trains and helped bring down the ruling party in national elections three days later.

But as recently as Monday, two Spanish police officials said the lead remained inconclusive.

"The American has the profile of an expert who could have supervised the bomb-making," a high-ranking Spanish police official said. "And obviously he's someone the Americans are very concerned about because of his background. But we are told the fingerprint match is not conclusive. We can't say right now that it is the same person."

Schmitt reported from Washington, Barabak from Aloha, Ore., and Rotella from Paris.

[al j]

Terrorist suspect, Chris? Have they said that? Perhaps it's just a case of a naïve, money hungry lawyer. Or are there such things?

Please Joe. Americans are completely responsible for the bombings in Madrid. The cats finally out of the bag, we don't have to pretend anymore.

[jesus marion joseph]

Originally Posted by Joe Christmas

Terrorist suspect, Chris? Have they said that? Perhaps it's just a case of a naïve, money hungry lawyer. Or are there such things?

This post reminds me of a trial practice class I took in law school with Judge Gerald Alch, a former law partner of F. Lee Bailey and a formidable criminal defense lawyer in his own right prior to being tapped for the bench. He told us a story one day of when he was representing a mobster in the federal court, and after his client was convicted, during the ride back to his office with his staffers, he stated how he had been really convinced that the client was innocent of the charges, whereupon his staffers looked at him like he had three dicks for a nose (my wife's colloquialism, not Judge Alch's) and rolled their eyeballs.

Just goes to show that even experienced lawyers can be naive in certain respects.

As far as this guy in Oregon, I had to listen to the news story twice, because I was certain I misheard it the first time. I suppose there are a few plausible innocent explanations for how his fingerprints got on explosives in Madrid, but it sure looks fishy.


As an aside, Judge Alch presided over Mo Vaughn's drunk driving trial several years back. I had an opportunity to discuss the case with him (after Vaughn was acquitted) and he stated that the case against Vaughn was extremely weak-one of the weakest OUI cases he had seen in a long time.

Originally Posted by Joe Christmas

Terrorist suspect, Chris? Have they said that? Perhaps it's just a case of a naïve, money hungry lawyer. Or are there such things?

I believe it has been established that the train bombings in Spain were perpetrated by terrorists. This attorney is suspected of being involved, because they found his fingerprints on evidence related to the case. I think it is, therefore, reasonable to assume that the Spanish authorities suspect him of being a terrorist.

Or does that label only apply to people who fit the Bush regime's profile?

The man may be completely innocent, just another greedy lawyer, but right now he is a terrorist suspect. It would not be the first time greed led to otherwise uncharacteristic involvement.

[jesus marion joseph]

Originally Posted by Chris A

The man may be completely innocent, just another greedy lawyer, but right now he is a terrorist suspect. It would not be the first time greed led to otherwise uncharacteristic involvement.

I like the toss-away phrase "just another greedy lawyer". As though one is necessarily greedy if one is a lawyer. I, for one, was greedy long before I was a lawyer.

[Monte Smith]

Originally Posted by Chris A

Or does that label only apply to people who fit the Bush regime's profile?

Well, it is pretty profiley that the guy is a convert to Islam.

But whatever. Thank God this guy is a terrorist. The world doesn't need another attorney.

(That one's for you, JMJ).

[jesus marion joseph]

Originally Posted by Monte Smith

The world doesn't need another attorney.

(That one's for you, JMJ).

I'm reminded of my college academic advisor who told me, when he learned I was interested in law school, that he had heard that in another ten years there would be more lawyers than people...............

[Tom Storer]

Originally Posted by Chris A

The man may be completely innocent, just another greedy lawyer, but right now he is a terrorist suspect. It would not be the first time greed led to otherwise uncharacteristic involvement.

Chris, I don't get that last sentence. If the guy is guilty (as you say, this is not yet established since "Spanish officials cautioned earlier this week that they did not consider the fingerprint evidence to be conclusive" and this is a "potential match" rather than, so far at least, a definite one), if he's guilty then, wouldn't his involvement be due to his politico-religious convictions rather than greed?

Originally Posted by Tom Storer

Chris, I don't get that last sentence. If the guy is guilty (as you say, this is not yet established since "Spanish officials cautioned earlier this week that they did not consider the fingerprint evidence to be conclusive" and this is a "potential match" rather than, so far at least, a definite one), if he's guilty then, wouldn't his involvement be due to his politico-religious convictions rather than greed?

In this case, probably, but there are cases where people step out of character for financial gain.

A happy new development:

May 21, 2004

U.S. Releases Man Questioned
for Madrid Bombings
By REUTERS
Filed at 5:14 a.m. ET

SEATTLE (Reuters) - A Muslim U.S. lawyer, jailed for two weeks for questioning over the deadly Madrid train bombings, was freed on Thursday after a fingerprint said to link him to the attacks was found to belong to another man.

Brandon Mayfield, a former Army officer who converted to Islam, was detained in Portland, Oregon, based on a single fingerprint of poor quality.

The print was found on a plastic bag containing detonators that was recovered near the station where the bombers boarded the trains on the morning of March 11. Ten bombs exploded on four commuter trains, killing 191 people and wounding 1,900.

Spanish officials blame Muslim extremists operating in the name of al Qaeda. A judge has accused 19 people, including 15 Moroccans, of involvement.

"I just want to say, thank God, everyone who was praying for me when I was in the Multnomah County Detention Center ... through what I'll call a harrowing ordeal,'' Mayfield told an impromptu news conference.

Flanked by his Egyptian wife, Mona, and holding the Koran and prayer mat provided to him by authorities, Mayfield spoke several phrases in Arabic and English offering praise to God.

Earlier, Spanish police said fingerprints found on the bag of detonators were those of Ouhnane Daoud, an Algerian man, whom they said took part in the attacks.

A Spanish police statement did not make a link with the Mayfield case, but sources close to the investigation said U.S. investigators mistakenly interpreted one Daoud fingerprint as belonging to Mayfield.

"Scientific police have identified the prints 100 percent'' as belonging to Daoud, one source said.

Spanish investigators cast doubt on the link to Mayfield from the start. While the Americans found 15 points of coincidence between the print on the bag and Mayfield's fingerprint, Spanish police found only eight, sources close to the probe said.

Calls to the U.S. Attorney and the Federal Bureau of Investigation in Portland were not immediately returned.

Mayfield's attorney, public defender Steven Wax, said he could not discuss details of the case, but he stressed Mayfield has maintained that he was innocent since his arrest on May 6.

His brother Kent Mayfield called the case a "witch hunt'' and said U.S. agents never produced any additional evidence linking Brandon Mayfield to the bombings.

"For someone who was incarcerated for never committing a crime, I guess he was treated all right. He was treated just like any other criminal,'' Kent Mayfield told Reuters by telephone, noting his brother had been kept in a jail cell since his arrest.

Mayfield once did child custody work for a man who was convicted of plotting to travel from Oregon to Afghanistan with a group of Muslims aiming to help al Qaeda and the Taliban fight U.S. forces.

He was held as a material witness in the Madrid case, which allowed authorities to hold him without charges and severely limit his access to attorneys, family and friends.

[Jazzooo]

I don't know--sounds kind of fishy to me. So the partial close-match of the fingerprint just so happened to be that of an Islamic convert in...Oregon? Of all of the people o the planet, it was this guy? Why not you, or me, or Chris A? I know there are a lot of Muslims, but this still sounds a litle hinky, as if they were looking for some reason to bring him in and study him without outside interference and the found a reason.

The FBI has now admitted that they were wrong. All charges against Mayfield have been dropped.

I hope he sues the hell out these flag-waving zealots!