ALEXANDRIA, Va., Feb. 6 (UPI) -- A federal magistrate on Wednesday ruled that "American Taliban" John Walker Lindh should not be freed on bail because he is dangerous and might try to flee.
Lindh's legal team had argued that he should be released before trial, alleging that the government's case against him relies on unconvincing evidence and coerced statements.
A federal grand jury on Tuesday indicted Lindh on 10 felony counts -- including conspiracy to murder Americans -- for his alleged role as a solider for the Taliban regime. The government's case is built around the claim that Lindh had joined and supported Osama bin Laden's al Qaida terrorist network while living in Afghanistan.
Lindh's lawyers unsuccessfully argued that their client was not a flight risk because he has close ties to his family, only served in the armed forces of a country that was not at war with the United States, and has no prior history of criminal behavior or violence.
"This young man has never been in trouble before," said defense lawyer Jim Brosnahan. "He has lived in Marin County (in Northern California). He does not drink. He does not do drugs and is a religious person. He follows the teachings of his church -- it's not my church -- but those of the church he has adopted."
The defense team also attacked the substance of the government's charges that Lindh conspired against American interests, claiming that the only evidence of his involvement in terror came from coerced statements made without counsel, while Lindh was being held by the Afghan Northern Alliance.
But Federal Magistrate W. Curtis Sewell refused to allow an examination of these matters, claiming that his only interest was the presence of probable cause, not the strength of the actual evidence.
"Those terms are subject to a motion to suppress, which I do not want to argue in this detention hearing," Sewell said in one of several warnings to the defense counsel.
Assistant United States Attorney Randy Bellows presented most of the government's case that Lindh should be held without bond.
"(The charges) are most serious offenses," he said. "Conspiracy to murder Americans is the gravest crime one can be charged with. And the circumstances of these crimes inherently offer both a danger to the community and a flight risk."
Bellows responded to the claims that Lindh was not a flight risk by pointing out that he had been living abroad for the past two years and had gone almost six months without contacting his family.
"He left this country and joined numerous terrorist groups," Bellows said. "This individual has expressed hostility to the United States and had expressed his intention not to return to the United States. His parents want to be the custodians for John Walker Lindh, but the record shows that he cannot be trusted."
Included in this record are a series of excerpts from e-mails that the government claims Walker sent to his family. While none of the released messages reflects any support for attacks on America or American interests, they do include some suspicion of the United States government and a desire to not return home, at least in the near future.
In his finding that Lindh should remain in custody, Sewell said that he would not judge the evidence because he did not want "to predict the outcome of a motion to suppress that has not yet come before this court."
He also cited Lindh's estrangement from his parents that included no physical contact between them from February 2000 and ended only when he was brought to the courtroom for the first time last month. The magistrate also said the lack of communication of any kind since June 2001 until his capture indicated additional estrangement within the family.
As for the offers made by Lindh's family to help with monitoring his location and assuring that he would appear for his trial, Sewell dismissed these offers.
"These arrangements would provide little more than early notice of any decision to flee," he said.
Outside the courtroom, Brosnahan took issue with the previous day's statements by Attorney General John Ashcroft during the announcement of the grand jury indictment.
One of these statements accused Lindh of being a terrorist.
"As today's indictment sets out, John Walker Lindh chose to train with al Qaida, chose to fight with the Taliban, chose to be led by Osama bin Laden," Ashcroft said. "The reasons for his choices may never be fully known to us, but the fact of these choices is clear. Americans who love their country do not dedicate themselves to killing Americans."
Brosnahan described these statements as violations of legal ethics.
"(He) used language that is inappropriate for a criminal case," he said. "These statements violate the standards of the Department of Justice, and they violate the standards of decorum used by prosecutors and defense attorneys."
Brosnahan also implied that frustration over the lack of success in the war on terror is hurting his client.
"I think the American public wants the attorney general to focus on the people who did real harm," he said, "by finding Osama bin Laden, by finding Omar (Taliban leader Mullah Mohammad Omar) and by finding whoever sent the anthrax through the mail. But don't take out your frustration on John Lindh."
