Legal News

Spotlight Burning Bright and Hot on Terrorism Suspect?s Attorney

By Ashby Jones

There are many things we have yet to learn in the case of Najibullah Zazi. But one thing is clear: [Arthur] Folsom - attorney to the shuttle-bus-driving alleged terrorist - can’t possibly be qualified to defend him. Folsom has little choice but to give up the spotlight, the cameras, the publicist - yes, publicist! - and, mostly, his suddenly notorious client. — Denver Post columnist Mike Littwin, writing on Sept. 23, 2009

It’s rare that one reads in the mainstream press words so critical of a lawyer in the public eye, especially when the lawyer was only recently hired.

But this situation is, well, strange, from top to bottom.

The quick backstory: The front pages of the nation’s newspapers have been jammed the last couple of days with the story of Najibullah Zazi (pictured), the central figure in a large alleged bomb plot and a possible leader of a U.S.-based sleeper Al Qaeda cell. A federal indictment alleges Zazi and unnamed others planned to make explosives from hair products and household cleaners. On Friday, Zazi was ordered held without bond at a hearing and will be transferred to New York from Colorado to face federal terrorism charges. Click here for the story on Friday’s hearing, from the WSJ’s Stephanie Simon, Cam Simpson and Evan Perez; here for an earlier LB post on Zazi.

According to the Denver Post column quoted above, Zazi got hooked up with his lawyer, Folsom, prior to his arrest, when he just “walked into Folsom’s office, looking for help.” Folsom took the case despite the fact that, according to the column, he works out of an “office that specializes in family law and DUIs and divorce and domestic violence and not, at least according to its website, international terrorism.” And it’s true: Folsom has already handled a publicist to handle the public-relations work that attends to so high-profile a case.

Continued Littwin:

This is, of course, an incredibly complicated case - a FISA case, where secret evidence will be put into play, a case where the full resources of the government are at work, a case where the Justice Department sends in its specialists and a full lineup of FBI agents. How is Folsom supposed to compete?

Is Folsom indeed in over his head? We placed a call to the publicist, Wendy Aiello, to get comment, but have yet to hear back.

In the meantime, the WSJ’s Stephanie Simon sent her observations along to the Law Blog on how Folsom fared in his court appearances.

Writes Simon:

Folsom got off to an inauspicious start in his first court appearance on behalf of Zazi on Monday when the magistrate judge hearing the case questioned his standing to appear in federal court. Turned out, as Folsom rather sheepishly explained, he had neglected to update a Colorado Bar database — but he assured the judge he was in good standing.

Then, on Friday, Folsom did his best to rebut the government’s position that Zazi should be detained without bail. Along the way, Folsom pulled out every argument he could muster — even some that apparently puzzled the judge.

For instance, Folsom suggested that the government may have made too much of the alleged terrorist plot, because after all, Zazi was in New York on Sept. 11 of this year and “nothing happened.” The government has said it has no evidence that the alleged plotters had picked out a particular time or date and the judge responded brusquely to Folsom: "I don't necessarily follow the logic of that argument," he said.

Folsom also suggested that it was safe to release Zazi because the FBI would probably keep on monitoring him closely, and with that kind of surveillance, there was no chance he’d flee.

Simon also reports that in court on Thursday, all the reporters were reading the new indictment from NY on their Blackberrys and going through the government’s evidence, but Folsom told the judge he hadn’t yet received a copy.

That said, reports Simon, Zazi is standing by his man. In court, Zazi repeatedly rebuffed the judge’s questions about whether he’d like to ask for a court-appointed public defender. On occasion, his hands manacled in front of him, Zazi leaned close to Folsom in court, consulting with the attorney on occasion. Folsom intends to fly to New York in the next few days to continue representing Zazi there.

It’s not Folsom all by himself, however. He’s brought on as co-counsel J. Michael Dowling, a Denver lawyer with some experience in handling federal cases. According to his Web site, his firm handles everything from major felonies and drug conspiracy cases to traffic charges and business license revocations.

Aiello told Simon that Dowling is registered to practice in New York, though Folsom is not. She said the pair may also look to bring a New York attorney on to the defense team.

Full post as published by Law Blog - WSJ.com on September 25, 2009 (boomark / email).