Editor's note: Your ProbateShark viewed a most informative letter that was intended "eyes only" for law enforcement. The letter details how and where the Judicial-Nursing Home Complex launders its "Elder Cleansing" money. Lucius Verenus, Schoolmaster, ProbateSharks.com
Lawyers in Chicago terror case question what sparked investigation
From left, Defense attorney Thomas Durkin and father of the defendant Adel Daoud, speak with members of the press before attending a hearing for Daoud at the Dirksen U.S. Courthouse on Sept. 17, 2012. (Armando L. Sanchez / September 17, 2012)
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Lawyers for a west suburban teenager charged with plotting to set off a bomb outside a downtown Chicago bar accused prosecutors Friday of dodging questions about whether the investigation was sparked by a massive government surveillance program.
Attorneys for Adel Daoud wrote that prosecutors are purposely hiding information to avoid a possible battle over the constitutionality of the secret spying program, which was authorized by Congress in 2008 under an amendment to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act.
Daoud's attorney, Thomas Anthony Durkin, said he is asking only for a yes or no on whether evidence in his case was derived from the expanded law, not for the highly classified content or details of the searches.
Prosecutors wrote in an earlier filing that they have no obligation to disclose the information unless ordered by the judge presiding over Daoud's case.
The surveillance programs — including one that collects U.S. phone records and another that tracks Internet use by foreigners with possible links to terrorism — were exposed earlier this month by Edward Snowden, a former National Security Agency contractor who leaked details to news organizations.
In the ensuing uproar, government officials have defended the programs as a highly effective weapon against terrorism. Testifying before the House Intelligence Committee earlier this week, an FBI official said Internet surveillance was pivotal in the arrest of Najibullah Zazi in 2009 for plotting to bomb a New York subway.
The filing by Daoud's attorney scolded the government for trying to have it both ways.
"Whenever it is good for the government to brag about its success, it speaks loudly and publicly," Durkin wrote. "When a criminal defendant's constitutional rights are at stake, however, it quickly and unequivocally clams up under the guise of state secrets."
Daoud, 19, of Hillside, came under FBI scrutiny after posting messages online about killing Americans, authorities have said. FBI analysts posing as terrorists exchanged messages with him and ultimately helped him plan an attack. Daoud was arrested in September after being accused of trying to detonate what he thought was a powerful car bomb outside a bar in the Loop.
Daoud, who has pleaded not guilty, is set to go on trial in February in federal court in Chicago.
jmeisner@tribune.com
Attorneys for Adel Daoud wrote that prosecutors are purposely hiding information to avoid a possible battle over the constitutionality of the secret spying program, which was authorized by Congress in 2008 under an amendment to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act.
Daoud's attorney, Thomas Anthony Durkin, said he is asking only for a yes or no on whether evidence in his case was derived from the expanded law, not for the highly classified content or details of the searches.
Prosecutors wrote in an earlier filing that they have no obligation to disclose the information unless ordered by the judge presiding over Daoud's case.
The surveillance programs — including one that collects U.S. phone records and another that tracks Internet use by foreigners with possible links to terrorism — were exposed earlier this month by Edward Snowden, a former National Security Agency contractor who leaked details to news organizations.
In the ensuing uproar, government officials have defended the programs as a highly effective weapon against terrorism. Testifying before the House Intelligence Committee earlier this week, an FBI official said Internet surveillance was pivotal in the arrest of Najibullah Zazi in 2009 for plotting to bomb a New York subway.
The filing by Daoud's attorney scolded the government for trying to have it both ways.
"Whenever it is good for the government to brag about its success, it speaks loudly and publicly," Durkin wrote. "When a criminal defendant's constitutional rights are at stake, however, it quickly and unequivocally clams up under the guise of state secrets."
Daoud, 19, of Hillside, came under FBI scrutiny after posting messages online about killing Americans, authorities have said. FBI analysts posing as terrorists exchanged messages with him and ultimately helped him plan an attack. Daoud was arrested in September after being accused of trying to detonate what he thought was a powerful car bomb outside a bar in the Loop.
Daoud, who has pleaded not guilty, is set to go on trial in February in federal court in Chicago.
jmeisner@tribune.com
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