How did a nice kid from Brooklyn end up like this — arrested and imprisoned. He was subjected to the most inhumane torture for more than three years, then tried, and convicted. Now he faces a possible life sentence. What did he do, what crime did he commit? How many people did he murder? None, zero, nada, not even one. He never injured anyone.
The June 14, 2002 issue of Time named Padilla, Person of the week. “Padilla entered public life via an announcement from Moscow on Monday, by Attorney General John Ashcroft, that an al-Qaeda operative had been captured at Chicago’s O’Hare International Airport, en route to contaminate a U.S. city with a radiological bomb. Within minutes panicky cable news channels were running file footage of mushroom clouds. They then spent much of the next two days atoning via a more sober explanation of dirty-bomb scenarios — and why they’re not nearly as scary as they sound . . .”
Padilla’s crime was that he lacked a PR representative who could discredit the propaganda that the government was using against him. He needed an agent. Celebrities use them every time they get into trouble.
Government prosecutors took steps to make sure that Jose Padilla became known as the “Dirty Bomber.” The intensity of the government smear campaign against Padilla would have made Mother Teresa look like a mass murderer. Padilla was tried and convicted in the press long before his trial in court. In fact, Padilla never had a bomb. He never had the materials necessary to build a bomb.
A jury decision is only as good as the information upon which it is based. Too often, the most important evidence is withheld from the jury. Political viewpoints and personal prejudices of jurors are often more important than the facts of the case. The August 17, 2007 Concord Monitor reports that Peter Whoriskey of the Washington Post states, “…The jury did seem to be an oddly cohesive group. On the last day of trial before the July 4th holiday, jurors arranged to dress in shirts so that each row in the jury box was its own patriotic color — red, white or blue. . . ”
In the Padilla case, did the jury know that the defendant was the victim of extreme torture for more than 3 years? That information might have made the jury sympathetic toward Padilla. On the August 16, 2007 broadcast of Democracy Now, forensic psychiatrist, Dr. Angela Hegarty, stated that, “What happened at the brig was essentially the destruction of a human being’s mind. Padilla’s personality was deconstructed and reformed.” She said the effects of the extreme isolation on Padilla are consistent with brain damage. “I don’t know if he’s guilty or not of the charges that they brought against him,” said Dr. Hegarty. “But . . . he’s already paid a tremendous price for his trip to the Middle East.”
This case has important legal implications for all of us, our children and grandchildren. Legal history is made every day but this case is different. If something like this can happen to a US citizen — a good kid from Brooklyn, it can happen to anybody. Jose Padilla today, Johnny Jones tomorrow. Yes, Jose was at one time a member of a street gang — so were millions of other young men and women.
The Courts in the United States leave a lot to be desired and this case proves that it is time to clean up the judicial system, end torture, and shut down the secret prison system. In addition reparations should be paid to Padilla for the years that he suffered extreme torture at the hands of the US government.
In the meantime, there is not a better case that is crying out to be made into a movie. It has it all — intrigue, secret prisons, violence, and torture. Hollywood are you listening? This is a film that might result in saving a life. The life that is saved might be yours.