Judge Cooke decided today that Padilla is mentally competent to stand trial, but warned that this decision is without prejudice to any future ruling on Padilla's claims of Outrageous Government Conduct:
A federal judge decided Wednesday that alleged al-Qaida operative Jose Padilla is mentally fit to stand trial on terrorism support charges, despite his attorneys' insistence that he is unable to help them prepare a defense.
Padilla was in court when U.S. District Judge Marcia Cooke announced her decision, but he showed no reaction.
“This defendant clearly has the capacity to assist his attorneys,'' Cooke said just hours after she finished a four days of competency hearings.
As Mark Kleiman observes, this may be for the best. It should be a very interesting trial. The gov’t has a lot of ‘splainin’ to do.
I’d like to know what the minimum score for being ruled competent to stand trial is and where Padilla’s score fell. In other words, how does one get in that position and how much sympathy should be afforded this individual?