Brooklyn Bridge Terror Defendant Files Motion Challenging NSA Wiretaps
A second criminal defense lawyer has filed a motion challenging the NSA warrantless wiretaps. Talkleft wrote here about Albany lawyer Terry Kindlon who filed the first such motion. David Smith of Alexandria, VA, another excellent defender is now representing Iyman Faris, the trucker from Ohio who pleaded guilty to planning to take down the Brooklyn Bridge.
A motion filed by Faris' attorney David Smith in U.S. District Court in Alexandria, Va., argues that investigators improperly obtained evidence against Faris and that his trial lawyer was ineffective.
Given the likelihood that Faris' phone conversations or e-mails had been electronically monitored, Faris' trial lawyer, Frederick Sinclair, should have asked for evidence of such surveillance, Smith said in the motion. "Had he done so, the government would have been in a real bind and this would have enabled Faris to, at a minimum, negotiate a much more favorable plea bargain," the motion said.
....At his sentencing, prosecutors acknowledged that federal agents were led to Faris by a telephone call intercepted in another investigation.
The challenges are going to be multiplying rapidly. Here's who reportedly is next on deck:
< Bush's New Cabinet Position: Department of Corruption and Bribery | Patriot Act Extended to March 10 > |