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lune2,2004
Freed Muslim Lawyer Speaks Out Court Upholds
Imprisonment called fallout of failed minority protections
(AP)— Brandon Mayfield, the
Portland lawyer wrongfully im
prisoned this month in connec
tion with terrorist bombings in
Spain, said his ordeal underscored
a warning he has sounded since
his days as a law student.
At Washburn in 1996 and 1997,
Mayfield said, an interest in con
stitutional law spurred him to write
a paper cautioning against attacks
on personal rights and privileges.
He titled the paper “Liberty” -
what Mayfield lost after the FBI
linked him to the March 11 bomb
ings and held him as a material
witness for two weeks.
“One of the messages o f the
paper was you have to protect
people even if the majority doesn ’ t
agree with them, provided they
aren’t breaking the law,” he said
Sunday. “That this happened to
me was kind o f ironic in that
sense."
Mayfield, a 37-year-old M us
lim convert, said he believes he
was targeted for investigation
because of his religion. He said
his incarceration also pointed out
alarming problems with the U.S.
Patriot Act, which, among other
provisions, allowed FBI agents to
search his hom e w ithout his
knowledge.
“The Patriot Act goes way too
far in taking away our privacy and
fre ed o m as U .S. c itiz e n s ,”
Mayfield said.
Mayfield was taken into cus-
Brandon Mayfield with his wife, Mona, confer in court.
tody May 6 in connection with the
bombings, which killed 191 people
and w ounded 2,000 o th ers in
Madrid. According to court docu
ments, the FBI began investigating
Mayfield two weeks after the at
tacks, when fingerprint examiners
narrowed the identification to him.
FBI agents raided M ayfield’s
hom e and office and confiscated
com puters, a key to a safe d e
posit box, assorted papers and
w hat agents classified as “S p an
ish docum ents” but w hich appar-
The Patriot Act goes way too far in
taking away our privacy and freedom
as U.S. citizens.
- Portland Attorney Brandon Mayfield
found 15 possible matches to a
fingerprint found on a plastic bag
containing detonators o f the kind
used in the bombings. The matches
in c lu d ed p rin ts b e lo n g in g to
Mayfield, and three FBI examiners
ently was foreign language hom e
w ork for one o f M ayfield’s three
children.
In additional evidence aimed at
supporting M ayfield’s arrest, the
FBI said he attended a Portland
mosque and advertised legal ser
vices in a publication owned by a
man with suspected links to ter
rorism. Officials also pointed to a
call made by M ayfield’s wife
Mona, to a branch o f an Islamic
charity with suspected terrorist
ties.
A rrested and b o o k ed into
M ultnom ah County D etention
Center in Oregon, Mayfield feared
he m ight be incarcerated for
months, even years, without a trial.
He said connecting him to the
bombings had been “preposter
ous." M ayfield, who runs a small
law office in Portland, never faced
any charges.
“It was pretty dark days for me
the first couple o f days - being
treated like I’m public enemy No.
1 and knowing there’s a capital
punishment penalty at the end of
all of this,” he said.
In a rare public apology, the
FBI admitted it had blundered in
linking M ayfield’s fingerprint to
the one from the bag o f detona
tors. Mayfield, who had been dis
charged from jail the week before
but placed under house arrest,
was released from all restrictions
on his movements.
Mayfield said that while he ap
preciated the apology, he w asn’t
satisfied with the outcome o f the
ordeal. He said he was consider
ing writing a book detailing his
experiences but hadn’t talked to a
publisher.
Suicide Law
Republican
administration
overruled in
Oregonians’
right to die
( AP) — A federal appeals court
ordered the Bush administration
not to meddle with a state’s as
sisted suicide law, ruling that doc
tors in Oregon may prescribe lethal
doses of medication to terminally ill
patients.
Ruling on the nation’s only law
that allows doctors to assist in has
tening the death o f a patient, the
court said U.S. Attorney General
John Ashcroft cannot sanction or
hold Oregon doctors criminally li
able for prescribing overdoses, as
the state’s voter-approved Death
With Dignity Act allows.
“The attorney general’s unilat
eral attempt to regulate general
medical practices historically en
trusted to state lawmakers inter
feres with the democratic debate
about physician assisted suicide,"
wrote Judge Richard Tallman in the
2 -1 opinion by the 9th U.S. Circuit
C o u rt o f A p p e a ls. H e said
A shcroft's action "far exceeds the
scope of his authority under fed
eral law.”
The Oregon law, approved by
voters in 1994, lets doctors pre
scribe a lethal dose o f narcotics to
terminally ill patients who request
assistance.
In 1997, the U.S. Supreme Court
ruled that states could decide
whether to allow assisted suicide.
The state o f Oregon maintained
it had the power to declare for itself
what types of medical procedures
are allowed. But the Justice Depart
ment concluded that suicide is not
a “legitimate medical purpose.”
Ashcroft had cited the federal
Controlled Substances Act when
he issued a directive threatening to
revoke the licenses of doctors who
aid suicides with narcotics. The act
declares what drugs doctors may
prescribe.
,n a sharp rebuke, U.S. District
Judge Robert Jones in Portland,
Ore., ruled in April 2002 that the
Controlled Substances Act does
not give the federal government
the power to say what is a legitimate
medical practice.
Kerry Targets Hispanics, Blacks with Ads
(AP) — Democrat John Kerry
made his first advertising push into
Hispanic and black media, part of
an $18 million month long effort.
Kerry’s latest commercials, fo
cusing on issues rather than his
biography, will air on mainstream
media outlets beginning W ednes
day in 20 states and nationally on
cable networks.
On Friday, the Kerry campaign
began airing its first Spanish-lan-
guage general election television
ad targeting Hispanics - arguably
the most volatile swing group - in
six states: Florida, Arizona, New Sen. John Kerry
M exico, Nevada, Colorado and
Ohio.
In S p an ish , the 3 0 -sec o n d
co m m ercial d escrib es K erry as
a V ietn am v eteran and a D em o
cra t w ho “ know s th at in W a sh
in g to n , the W orld W ar II M e
m o rial is a m o n u m en t to s o l
d iers w ith nam es such as G arcia,
C h a v ez and O ritz .”
The commercial also shows pho
tos of Kerry in Vietnam, with artist’s
renderings of the monument and
Hispanic veterans, while listing their
last names.
Kerry also will expand his adver-
tising starting next week to media
outlets targeting blacks, including
running commercials on cable’s
Black Entertainment Television
Black lawmakers had told Kerry’s
campaign that it must target ads to
black communities to help mobi
lize the Democratic vote.
With its June TV ad purchase
Kerry's campaign follows through
on two promises: to target some of
its advertising to ethnic and racial
groups and to expand the number
of battleground states from the 17
already seeing heavy levels of com
mercials.
Seattle Monorail Catches Fire near Experience Music Project
(AP) — A monorail caught fire
outside a Seattle museum Monday,
forcing firefighters to use ladders
to evacuate dozens of passengers.
Nine people were hospitalized.
including a firefighter who injured
a knee, but none o f the injuries was
considered serious and no one
appeared to have been burned,
Seattle Fire Department spokes-
c,’r JJorHanh (Dhseroer Established 1970
USPS 959880 _______________________________
woman H elen Fitzpatrick said.
About 40 people were evaluated at
the scene for respiratory problems
from the smoke, she added.
The cause o f the fire was under
investigation.
About 100 people were aboard
the train when it caught fire outside
the Seattle C enter’s Experience
Music Project, a rock ‘n’ roll mu
seum. Thousands of people gath
ered at the center over the holiday
weekend for the annual Folklife
Festival.
Fire officials said the fire was
brought under control Monday
evening. Streets were closed in
the area.
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Train Wreck Kills Two
(AP) — A freight train struck a
man and four children as they
crossed a private railroad bridge
north o f Vancouver Monday, kill-
in g them ananda 12-year-old child.
The group, on a Memorial Day
outing to the beach, apparently ig
nored the "No Trespassing” on the
bridge over the Lewis River be
tween Woodland and Ridgefield.
Arm Kight. 30, and Ashley Falk,
12, were killed. Right’s twochildren,
12-year-old Heaven Campbell and 7-
year-old Matt Thompson, were in
jured, as was 6-year-old Wayne Frye,
the son of Right’s fiancee.
The three children survived by
hugging the bolts on the sides of
the bridge, but Ashley fell into the
river. It was unclear whether she
died from the i mpact of the train or
drowned.
“I remember this really loud
bang, and dad told us to get on the
edge,” said Wayne, referring to
Kight. “My dad didn't make it. He
fell.”
Area residents have grown ac
customed to running across the
trestle. In the last five years, at least
twoothers have been killed by trains
on the bridge, residents said.
The parents o f a missing college student, Cammy and Greg
Wilberger of Corvallis, face reporters to appeal for the public's
help in finding their teenage daughter.
Police Expand Search
for Brooke Wilberger
Reward swells
to $30,000
(A P )— As the search for a miss
ing Brigham Young University stu
dent moved into its eighth day, a
$30,000 reward was offered for any
information leading to the 19-year-
old’s safe return.
Brooke Wilberger, whose par
ents live in Veneta, was last seen a
week ago, at the apartment complex
her sister manages in Corvallis.
Lt. Ron Noble, a spokesman for
the Corvallis police department,
said police have focused on four
“persons o f interest,” one of whom
was arrested over the weekend on
unrelated burglary charges.
Sung K t» Kim, 30, o f Tigard was
later released on $250,000 bail, ac
cording to jailers at the Benton
County Jail. Kim was arrested for
burglary at George Fox College by
Newberg police May 13 on a search
warrant that found more than 1,000
items, including large quantities of
w om ens’ underwear.
He also is charged with an April
b u rg la ry at O re g o n S tate
University’s Sacket Hall, which is
very near the site where W ilberger
was last seen. He was released on
the 17th.
“In addition to that, there are
over400 names from our tip line that
we are looking at,” Noble said. “Mr.
Kim has been more out in the public
eye, but the investigation isn’t stop
ping there.”
Noble also said that police are
considering any and every tips,
including those that come from
psychics.
A lso M o n d ay , W ilb e rg e r’s
friends and fam ily planned to
gather at a com m unity prayer rally
in C orvallis. The Church o f Jesus
C hrist o f L atter-day S aints, to
which W ilberger’s family belongs,
was to take the lead in the prayer
service.
The search for W ilberger is now
focusing on natural areas near
Corvallis. More than 1,200 volun
teers have searched more than 2,000
acres in Benton County in the past
w eek, looking for the m issing
woman.
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