Padilla Judge's Views Wavered
The decision to spare convicted terrorist Jose Padilla a life sentence came as a surprise to many. But a Miami Herald analysis indicates U.S. District Judge Marcia Cooke of Miami waffled throughout the case.
”There were points during the trial when she said things that suggested she thought there was more to the case than she had originally thought,” American University law professor Stephen Vladeck told the Miami Herald. “At the sentencing, she seemed to be back where she started.”
Cooke sentenced Padilla, who had trained with al-Qaida, to 17 years in prison. At sentencing, Cooke took into account Padilla’s harsh treatment during his detention as an enemy combatant.
Padilla spent more than three years in near isolation at a naval brig in South Carolina before being brought to trial in Miami.
The Herald notes instances during the trial in which Cooke questioned the prosecution, including an observation that the case appeared “light on facts.” But after an appeals court overturned one of her rulings, the paper reports Cooke’s decisions were more favorable to the prosecution.
That was until sentencing, when Cooke noted that while the crimes Padilla committed were “very serious,” there “was never a plot to harm individuals inside the United States or to kill government or political officials.”
