Priests Want -Trial By Jury In US Court - For Military's Role In Torture

[kpete]

Priests try to change topic in U.S. court; they want to put military
on trial for alleged torture
By Bill Hess
Herald/Review

Published on Tuesday, August 14, 2007


In some ways the prosecution was in a defensive position as defense attorney William Quigley attacked by asking that torture, which he claims is taught at the Intelligence Center on Fort Huachuca, be put on trial.

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Prosecutor Capt. Evan Seamone said the misdemeanor trespassing case is that and only that, and he denied Quigley’s assumption two Catholic priests were denied some of their First Amendment rights, primarily the right to assemble, petition the government and practice free speech.


If the judge allows the defense to put torture on trial as a reason the two priests did what they did last November by attempting the plea with Fast to stop the supposed activities being taught at the fort, he intends to subpoena the general to testify at the trial, Quigley said.

He introduced more than a dozen documents, ranging those signed by President George W. Bush, former Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld and Alberto Gonzales in his role as presidential counsel and U.S. Attorney General, investigations by senior military personnel and the FBI, as well as the International Red Cross, Humans Right Watch, the New York University Law School and an international physicians group.

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For Quigley there has to be a larger procedure to address America’s wrongdoing when it comes to torture, and he says that will require a trial by jury.




more at:
http://www.svherald.com/articles/2007/08/14/news/doc46c15bb422c37214425069.txt