Legal News

Gitmo Judge Delays Hamdan Trial, Awaits High Court Decision

By Dan Slater

Another week, another setback for the Bush administration’s military commissions. The military judge presiding over the trial of Salim Hamdan — Osama bin Laden’s former driver — decided on Friday to delay the trial until late July, after the Supreme Court has decided the appeal in Boumediene v. Bush, a case addressing the applicability of habeas corpus to Gitmo detainees. Here’s the decision from Capt. Keith J. Allred, and here’s a report from the Miami Herald. (Find background on Boumediene at Scotus Wiki.)

A delay in Hamdan’s trial, Judge Allred wrote, “permits all the parties to have the benefit of a decision that may well change the tenor or conduct of the trial, and avoids the potential embarrassment, waste of resources, and prejudice to the accused that would accompany an adverse decision mid-trial, or need to retry the case.”

In Boumediene, the Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit limited the rights of detainees. If that ruling is overturned by the high court, it could jeopardize any conviction of Hamdan. Indeed, in his ruling, Judge Allred said he was concerned that the first war crimes trial at Guantánamo might be conducted under legal assumptions that would be outdated by the time of the Court’s decision in Boumediene.

And what about the effect of a one-month delay on the parties? Judge Allred wrote: “The accused has been in confinement for six years, and another month’s wait will not prejudice any party to the case. The government may easily reschedule its witnesses and their travel.”

Full post as published by Law Blog - WSJ.com on May 19, 2008 (boomark / email).