At Padilla terror trial, a witness's surprise effect
A witness for the US government has painted a less-than-menacing picture of a terrorist training camp.
from the May 21, 2007 edition
Page 2 of 3
Goba as a stand-in for Padilla
The irony of Goba's testimony is that defense attorneys appear to be doing to the prosecution with their own witness what prosecutors set out to do to the defense. They are using Goba as a stand-in for Padilla.
In his opening statement to the jury, Assistant US Attorney Brian Frazier said that Goba would explain "just what kind of training Jose Padilla wanted" at the camp in Afghanistan.
Defense lawyers objected. And US District Judge Marcia Cooke sustained their objection. It was a preview of what was to come.
When the government announced last week that Goba would be the next witness, defense lawyers argued that prosecutors would try to hold Padilla accountable for Goba's conduct by implying to the jury that both were members of a single, massive Islamic conspiracy.
Judge Cooke rejected the government's broad Islamic conspiracy theory, saying there was no evidentiary connection between Goba's cell in Lackawanna and the alleged South Florida cell. The judge limited Goba's testimony to his own personal experiences at the Al Farooq training camp in Afghanistan. He could testify about filling out a "Mujahideen Data Form" identical to the form that the government says Padilla filled out.
But the judge barred prosecutors from showing the jury a 30-second film of Mr. bin Laden visiting the Al Farooq camp while Goba was there. The judge ruled it wasn't relevant to Padilla's case because Padilla is alleged to have attended the camp 10 months earlier.
Cooke's limitations set the stage for a dramatic turnabout.
Testimony has limitations
Instead of Goba discussing the radical, violent, terrorist goals of many of his fellow recruits and their Al Qaeda hosts at Al Farooq, his testimony has been limited to his own experiences and beliefs. He told the jury under questioning by defense lawyers that he never intended to join Al Qaeda, engage in terrorism, or harm anyone.
He attended the training camp because he'd been told by an Islamic preacher that it was a religious duty to prepare for jihad to assist Muslims struggling against oppression in places like Bosnia, Kosovo, and Chechnya.
"Are you now, or have you ever been a terrorist?" Padilla defense lawyer Michael Caruso asked.
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