Legal News

Appeals Court: Al Qaeda Defendant Confronts Accusers (Through Video)

By Dan Slater

Ahmed Omar Abu Ali in undated family photo. Credit: Associated Press.

The Sixth Amendment was given a broad interpretation by the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals on Friday when it upheld the terrorism conviction of Ahmed Omar Abu Ali that relied on evidence obtained by authorities in Saudi Arabia.

Specifically, the court upheld the use of a confession by Ali, who’s alleged to have been part of an al Qaeda cell that plotted to kill President Bush, despite the fact that the Saudis refused to permit the law-enforcement officials who interrogated Ali to appear in court. The three-judge panel ruled Friday that the questioning of the officials at trial via live video hookup sufficiently protected Ali’s right to confront witnesses against him. Ali had argued that his confession was coerced by torture and should be suppressed. Both the lower court and the court of appeals rejected that claim. Click here for stories from the WSJ, the WaPo and the Washington Times. Click here for the opinion.

While the decision to uphold the conviction was unanimous, the court split 2-1 on the issue of Ali’s resentencing. Judges J. Harvie Wilkinson III and Willaim B. Traxler Jr. voted to order resentencing, agreeing with prosecutors that the district court had deviated from sentencing guidelines in meting out 30 years for Ali instead of life in prison. Judge Diana Gribbon Motz dissented from that decision.

Joshua Dratel, an attorney for Abu Ali, told the WaPo that he will ask the full Fourth Circuit to rehear the appeal. “This is one step along the way in the effort to get relief for Mr. Abu Ali,” he said. “I’m not deterred by this.”

Full post as published by Law Blog - WSJ.com on June 09, 2008 (boomark / email).