A Worcester-based defense lawyer who had been representing a Pittsfield man accused of murder has been tapped for the federal bench, leading to a shake-up of the defendant s legal representation.
the criminal justice system is very flexible and not as brittle as what the critics say and the reason why you have to go to a military system or something like that. the supreme court in 1984 in new york versus quarles says there was a broad public safety exception in cases of imminent threat. and this is if there is ever going to be an exemption that qualifies, this is that type of one. and the administration, you know, i think it s important to say, wisely i think, you know, said they got their interrogation, they did what they needed to do. now they have read him his rights and the trial can proceed in the way that trials do all the time. as you were saying in your set piece a few minutes ago, this is the way we do things in this country. justice comes to you, even if you re in a hospital bed. we don t need to send you to guantanamo, boston bomber, in order to try you. we have the tools, the techniques, the prosecutors and everything we need right here 20 do it. neal katyal at ge
need to be punished for that crime. and this system, our federal system is one of the best systems in dealing with al qaeda, in dealing with terrorism. i ll give you an example. since 9/11 until today, we had probably about more than 165, 170 cases of terrorism disruption that happened in the united states. each one of these suspects were read their rights. each one of these suspects gave great amount of intelligence to the law enforcement and the intelligence communities that helped tremendously in understanding networks and disrupting plots, arresting other people. and then we were able to convict them in a court of law where they are in jail and probably they will never see the light of day again. so this is extremely important. this is also extremely important to counter narrative of al qaeda. in what way? because they wanted the people to look at them in the muslim world, that they are mujahedeen, they are doing something bigger than themselves. but you know what? they are not
but you know what? they are not. they are nothing but criminals. look at omar abdel-rahman, the blind sheik. right. he is probably on the religious scale way higher than ayman al zawahiri. when he was arrested in court, not one muslim demonstration in the world came out in support. how many demonstrations we have in supporting bin laden s bodyguards and guantanamo. i think when we do it by the book, when we do it in accordance with our values, when we do it in accordance with our principle, we win. we win on every level. we counter the narrative, but also we have the ability to convict these individuals and bring justice to all the victims. today, for example, in guantanamo bay, we had hundreds of people who are still in custody in guantanamo bay. at one point we had more than 500, 600 people in guantanamo bay. we re able to convict only seven people.
lawyers can have access to their client pursuant to hospital regulations and that sort of thing. and they agree the next hear willing be may 30th, which is five and a half weeks from now at 10:00 in the morning. and then proceedings are adjourned at the hospital bed. that s the way we do it in this country, even if justice has to travel to you in your hospital bed as you recover from gunshot wounds to the head and the neck and the legs and the hand. the judge will come to you and the prosecutor, and you will get read your rights and be assigned a defense attorney if you cannot afford one, and you will be tried in court, in civilian court. you are nothing special. also today in american military court at mcchord south of tacoma, washington, today the worst fratricide incident of the whole iraq war resulted in a guilty plea. john russell plead guilty to shooting and killing five fellow servicemen, one navy commander and four fellow army soldiers. he was at a combat stress clinic in baghd