Legal News

Hamdan Story to Go Hollywood; Clooney to Play Another Lawyer

By Dan Slater

Lt. Cmdr. Charles Swift speaks at Seattle University Law School, Nov. 3, 2006. (AP Photo/Kevin P. Casey)

In the wake of the Salim Hamdan trial, a heady debate is playing out over whether the sentence — accounting for time served, Hamdan faces just five months — amounts to a verdict on the military-commissions experiment. That’s important, since the tribunals could determine the fate of as many as 80 more detainees.

Perhaps one takeaway: courtroom demeanor matters. Jess Bravin’s WSJ piece includes an interview with an unidentified juror from the Hamdan trial who admits to being impressed by Hamdan’s courtroom manner. “He looked very mild mannered,” the juror said of Hamdan, who wore traditional Yemeni dress under a blazer.

George Clooney during a news conference held at United Nations headquarters where he was designated UN Messenger of Peace, Jan. 31, 2008. (AP Photo/David Karp)

Before the jury began considering the sentence, Hamdan made an unsworn statement apologizing to any who were harmed by his acts. Perhaps that was self-serving, the juror said, but the panel was impressed with Hamdan’s actions after the sentence was announced: He stood and apologized again and thanked the jury and judge.

“I thought it was unusual, considering the crimes he was accused of,” the juror said. “The reality is, he didn’t have to get up at all, he could have just sat there.”

Apparently, George Clooney also finds Hamdan an interesting figure. Last week, the the Post’s Page Six reported that Clooney’s production company, Smokehouse, has bought the rights to a book about Hamdan. The book, “The Challenge,” is by journalist Jonathan Mahler and tells the story of Hamdan’s capture and trial. Clooney, reports the Post, is believed to be interested in playing the role of Hamdan’s lawyer, Lt. Commander Charles Swift.

Here’s an NYT review that calls the book “highbrow narrative nonfiction,” but adds that, “trying to wring drama from page after page of lawyers arguing over the wording of arcane legal pleadings — well, it may be catnip for law students. For the rest of us? Let’s just say, ‘The Bourne Ultimatum’ it’s not.”

Full post as published by Law Blog - WSJ.com on August 11, 2008 (boomark / email).