Reuters: Doctors call Padilla unfit for terrorism trial [View All]

[Eugene]

Doctors call Padilla unfit for terrorism trial

By Jane Sutton

21 minutes ago

MIAMI (Reuters) - Former "enemy combatant" Jose Padilla is mentally unfit to stand
trial on terrorism charges and physically unable to tell his lawyers what happened
to him in a U.S. military prison, doctors who examined him for the defense said in
court on Thursday.

The doctors testified that Padilla, held by presidential order for 3-1/2 years in a
military brig without being charged, is also unable to tell his lawyers anything
about the time he spent in Afghanistan and Egypt, where the government alleges
he conspired with Islamist terrorists to maim and murder people.

-snip-

Hegarty and a clinical forensic psychologist who examined Padilla for the defense,
Dr. Patricia Zaph, said he was mentally impaired, suffered from post-traumatic
stress disorder and convinced he should help the government rather than his own
lawyers.

A Bureau of Prisons doctor who examined him at the court's request, however, found
him fit for trial.

-snip-

Full article: http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20070223/pl_nm/usa_padilla_dc_1