Brandon Mayfield, the Oregon attorney and former Halstead resident wrongly arrested in 2004 in connection with the Madrid train bombings, has settled a lawsuit against the federal government for $2 million. Some Americans will think Mayfield, a convert to Islam, should have been satisfied by the apology the FBI offered him after re-examination of fingerprint evidence showed he had not handled a bag of detonators after all. But then they didn’t have their homes searched and conversations monitored without their knowledge, and they weren’t jailed and treated as terrorists in their own country.
Taxpayers can only hope this reminds the FBI to exercise its broad anti-terrorism powers with more care.
Posted by Rhonda Holman
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18 Comments
I heard he’s also taking the Patiot Act to the Supreme Court. Can’t say I blame him for any of it.
It is for the same reasons we have a constitutional right to bear arms.The fore fathers knew that government itself can become a tyranny.
I wonder what those who advocate security over liberty will have to say about this. I bet they avoid this one like the plague.
Reminds me loosely of our fellow Wichitan Mr. Valadez who just recently died; he was outed by our esteemed KSN news team….and then they had to balls to open their Tuesday night news with ‘former BTK suspect has died’….an extremely insensitive and rotten way to announce his death. We would have never heard of Mr. Valadez if not for the loose ethics of KSN.May Mr. Valadez rest in peace because the last few years of his life were ruined by KSN.
jim g-I agree totally. He was the brother of my High Skool football coach. He seemed like a nice guy. I hope they sue KSN again for the reference to “former BTK suspect”.
The government could have avoided this mess if they tortured him and got a coerced confession that didn’t have to be shown in court. All is possible thanks to legislation passed into law by the freedom hating Republicans.
I didn’t know about the KSN coverage on Tuesday night about Valadez, but I’m not surprised by their insensitivity. I stopped watching KSN when all that stuff happened 2 years ago.
Kind of ironic though for timing, don’t you think? Wasn’t it Dec 1st when all this crap happened?
I had read where the settlement can go into his estate; so hopefully KSN is not off the hook.
Ok you lawyers out there. How much is he going to end up with? Minus lawyer’s fees? And don’t forget the IRS.
Dennis,Mayfield is a lawyer himself. Why would he want to charge a percentage fee to himself? IRS doesn’t tax on tort claims injury awards, either.
Surely he didn’t represent himself!
Here is the verbatim KSN broadcast announcing Mr. Valadez’s death, as spoken by Ms. Cochran.
“A FORMER SUSPECT IN THE B-T-K CASE… HAS DIED.TODAY, WE LEARNED ROGER VALADEZ PASSED AWAY SUDDENLY ON MONDAY.POLICE ARRESTED VALADEZ IN 2004 ON UN-RELATED CHARGES, AND D-N-ALATER CLEARED HIS NAME IN THE BTK CASE.LAST MONTH, HE WON A LAWSUIT AGAINST K-S-N FOR REPORTING HIS NAME.THAT CASE IS ON APPEAL, SO IT’S UNCLEAR HOW IT WILL BE AFFECTED.VALADEZ WAS 66 YEARS OLD.” ###
Please go to KSN.com and voice any thoughts you have about their approach. I think they drug his name through the BTK story as one last kick at this poor man. For KSN it seems money and revenge matters more than dignity.
Jim G.,KSN is reporting the news. The DA IDed him as a BTK suspect.
He WAS a BTK suspect. The case will almost certainly be overturned on appeal.
And KSgolfnuts again proves he is a pig.
KSN USED to be my favorite. I haven’t watched their news in some time now. A parting shot at a man whose life they destroyed. Disgusting.
Interesting how none of our traders (traitors?) of liberty for security are addressing the original subject of this thread. Much as I said they would not.
Our Gov. seemed to take the easy route in addressing terror. The Patriot Act should have said ‘we will secure our borders’, ‘we will not compromise American values because doing that would mean the terrorists won’
Instead- we freak out and harrang the first poor bastard (American none the less) who our freaky gov. agents deem a threat.
Hell, I enjoy hummus and pita….I must be looking for trouble. Better shake me down, fly me to Romania, piss in my eyes, then, THEN, run my prints and DNA….and fly move under cover of night and let KSN ruin my total fucking existence.
AMORICA
A lawyer who represents himself has a fool for a client, so the old saying goes
Apparently Big Brother is now interested in what you eat.
Homeland Security Tracks Travelers’ Mealshttp://www.cnn.com/2006/TRAVEL/11/30/traveler.screening.ap/index.html
You can call him a fool, but at the end of the day, Mayfield secured a 2 million settlement for two weeks of aggrevation. Not bad for rep., himself.
I note from the link in the IP, Mr. Mayfield had counsel; Rosenthal is the last name provided.
Attorney fees might be a separate part of the settlement, depending upon how the case was brought, e.g., was this a classic tort case, requiring first filing a claim under the Tort Claims Act, or was this a 1983 action.