Portland Lawyer Released in Probe of Spain Bombings
by David Heath and Hal Bernton
The Seattle Times
Brandon Mayfield, a soft-spoken lawyer who had been linked to the March 11 train bombings in Madrid, was released from U.S. custody yesterday after Spanish authorities said fingerprints on a bag of detonators belonged to someone else.
U.S. law-enforcement sources had been insisting Mayfield's fingerprint was on a plastic shopping bag containing detonators, found near a Spanish train station after the bombings. Newsweek, which broke the story, quoted an unnamed U.S. counterterrorism official as saying the fingerprints were an "absolutely incontrovertible match.
Brandon Mayfield, center, is greeted by his family yesterday at the federal courthouse in Portland, during a news conference after he was released from custody. "I want to thank everyone who was praying for me," he said.
It's unclear what may have gone wrong in the fingerprint analysis. The FBI and the U.S. Attorney's Office declined to comment. And Mayfield and his attorneys remained under a court-imposed gag order.
But shortly after Spanish authorities said the fingerprints matched an Algerian with a criminal record, Mayfield was released. His attorney, Steve Wax, said the release came after "intense negotiations."
"I want to thank everyone who was praying for me," Mayfield, a Muslim convert, said at the federal courthouse. "I want to thank my friends and family who supported me through what I will call this harrowing ordeal."
His three children, ages 10, 12 and 15, gathered around him while his wife, Mona, with tears in her eyes, stood next to him.
Mayfield recited a Muslim prayer: "God is great. There is no God but God."
Minutes later, his brother, Kent Mayfield, raced up and embraced him. As Mayfield's attorney tried to usher the family away, an angry Kent Mayfield turned to face the media.
"This obviously proves that this was a complete witch hunt," he said, adding later, "I would say to the FBI that they have some major explaining to do."
Authorities detained Mayfield at his Portland law office May 6 and held him as a material witness for the past two weeks. Authorities can hold people who they believe have information critical to a criminal investigation. The Justice Department has used the tactic in several terrorism-related investigations.
According to news accounts, Spanish police found the shopping bag of detonators in the back of a van at a train station hours after the bombings, which killed 191 and injured 2,000. The bag had fingerprints, but police were unable to find a match, so they consulted the FBI. Agents in the U.S. reportedly matched a print to Mayfield's. His fingerprints were on file because he once served in the Army; he was stationed at Fort Lewis.
Mayfield, who has a small law practice that handles some immigration cases, represented a man convicted of conspiring to levy war against the United States. Mayfield worked on a child-custody case for one of the "Portland Seven," a group accused of trying to join the Taliban to fight against the United States after the Sept. 11 attacks. Mayfield's client, Jeffrey Battle, was sentenced to 18 years in prison in the Portland Seven case.
Authorities placed Mayfield under surveillance but reportedly felt pressured to take him into custody when word of the investigation leaked to the media. Investigators said at the time they weren't sure how Mayfield may have been involved in the train bombings, believed to be tied to al-Qaida.
Spanish authorities, however, expressed doubts from the start about the FBI's fingerprint match. Yesterday, officials in Spain released a statement saying the fingerprints belong to an Algerian, Ouhnane Daoud. The Europa Press news agency reported Daoud had a residency permit to live in Spain and had a police record.
"The extensive and meticulous work of the Spanish scientific police has determined completely that the fingerprint identifications are of the medium and thumb fingers of the Algerian's right hand," Spanish authorities said.
Mayfield's family insisted since his detention that he had no involvement in the train bombing. His mother, AvNell Mayfield, said yesterday that her son's release "just confirms what we already knew: Brandon is innocent." The family said he hadn't been out of the country in 10 years and had expressed disgust at the bombings when they happened.
The case could lead to a critical investigation of the FBI's fingerprint analysis, said Peter Neufeld, a co-founder of the Innocence Project at the Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law in New York City.
"If they got it wrong, it's huge," Neufeld said.
It would not be the first case of mistaken identity involving fingerprints. The Innocence Project represented a man in Boston who on Feb. 2 was exonerated in the shooting of a Boston police officer despite a fingerprint match at the scene. DNA evidence excluded Stephan Cowans, who served more than six years in prison, and a re-evaluation of the fingerprint analysis showed it was flawed, Neufeld said.
Two years ago, U.S. District Court Judge Louis Pollak initially barred fingerprint testimony in a Philadelphia murder case, saying analysts' methods weren't sufficient. He later allowed fingerprint testimony in the case.
Michael Saks, a law professor and fellow of the Center for the Study of Law, Science and Technology at Arizona State University, said that although fingerprint analysis provides strong evidence, it's not infallible.
One problem is that there's no scientific justification that only one person can match a fingerprint found at a crime scene, Saks said.
"You've got the fingerprint folks saying what no real scientists believe — that if you take any little smeared fragment of one of my fingerprints, that will match no other tiny smeared fragment of fingerprint of anyone else in the world."
Saks said fingerprint experts should start assigning a probability to their analysis, as is done in DNA forensic analysis. It may turn out, Saks said, that Mayfield's fingerprints are coincidentally similar to those of the Algerian suspect.
"You can't blame any investigator for saying, 'This makes him a person of great interest to us,' " Saks said. But if investigators say it's an absolute match, "it can turn around and bite them."
by David Heath and Hal Bernton
The Seattle Times
Brandon Mayfield, a soft-spoken lawyer who had been linked to the March 11 train bombings in Madrid, was released from U.S. custody yesterday after Spanish authorities said fingerprints on a bag of detonators belonged to someone else.
U.S. law-enforcement sources had been insisting Mayfield's fingerprint was on a plastic shopping bag containing detonators, found near a Spanish train station after the bombings. Newsweek, which broke the story, quoted an unnamed U.S. counterterrorism official as saying the fingerprints were an "absolutely incontrovertible match.
Brandon Mayfield, center, is greeted by his family yesterday at the federal courthouse in Portland, during a news conference after he was released from custody. "I want to thank everyone who was praying for me," he said.
It's unclear what may have gone wrong in the fingerprint analysis. The FBI and the U.S. Attorney's Office declined to comment. And Mayfield and his attorneys remained under a court-imposed gag order.
But shortly after Spanish authorities said the fingerprints matched an Algerian with a criminal record, Mayfield was released. His attorney, Steve Wax, said the release came after "intense negotiations."
"I want to thank everyone who was praying for me," Mayfield, a Muslim convert, said at the federal courthouse. "I want to thank my friends and family who supported me through what I will call this harrowing ordeal."
His three children, ages 10, 12 and 15, gathered around him while his wife, Mona, with tears in her eyes, stood next to him.
Mayfield recited a Muslim prayer: "God is great. There is no God but God."
Minutes later, his brother, Kent Mayfield, raced up and embraced him. As Mayfield's attorney tried to usher the family away, an angry Kent Mayfield turned to face the media.
"This obviously proves that this was a complete witch hunt," he said, adding later, "I would say to the FBI that they have some major explaining to do."
Authorities detained Mayfield at his Portland law office May 6 and held him as a material witness for the past two weeks. Authorities can hold people who they believe have information critical to a criminal investigation. The Justice Department has used the tactic in several terrorism-related investigations.
According to news accounts, Spanish police found the shopping bag of detonators in the back of a van at a train station hours after the bombings, which killed 191 and injured 2,000. The bag had fingerprints, but police were unable to find a match, so they consulted the FBI. Agents in the U.S. reportedly matched a print to Mayfield's. His fingerprints were on file because he once served in the Army; he was stationed at Fort Lewis.
Mayfield, who has a small law practice that handles some immigration cases, represented a man convicted of conspiring to levy war against the United States. Mayfield worked on a child-custody case for one of the "Portland Seven," a group accused of trying to join the Taliban to fight against the United States after the Sept. 11 attacks. Mayfield's client, Jeffrey Battle, was sentenced to 18 years in prison in the Portland Seven case.
Authorities placed Mayfield under surveillance but reportedly felt pressured to take him into custody when word of the investigation leaked to the media. Investigators said at the time they weren't sure how Mayfield may have been involved in the train bombings, believed to be tied to al-Qaida.
Spanish authorities, however, expressed doubts from the start about the FBI's fingerprint match. Yesterday, officials in Spain released a statement saying the fingerprints belong to an Algerian, Ouhnane Daoud. The Europa Press news agency reported Daoud had a residency permit to live in Spain and had a police record.
"The extensive and meticulous work of the Spanish scientific police has determined completely that the fingerprint identifications are of the medium and thumb fingers of the Algerian's right hand," Spanish authorities said.
Mayfield's family insisted since his detention that he had no involvement in the train bombing. His mother, AvNell Mayfield, said yesterday that her son's release "just confirms what we already knew: Brandon is innocent." The family said he hadn't been out of the country in 10 years and had expressed disgust at the bombings when they happened.
The case could lead to a critical investigation of the FBI's fingerprint analysis, said Peter Neufeld, a co-founder of the Innocence Project at the Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law in New York City.
"If they got it wrong, it's huge," Neufeld said.
It would not be the first case of mistaken identity involving fingerprints. The Innocence Project represented a man in Boston who on Feb. 2 was exonerated in the shooting of a Boston police officer despite a fingerprint match at the scene. DNA evidence excluded Stephan Cowans, who served more than six years in prison, and a re-evaluation of the fingerprint analysis showed it was flawed, Neufeld said.
Two years ago, U.S. District Court Judge Louis Pollak initially barred fingerprint testimony in a Philadelphia murder case, saying analysts' methods weren't sufficient. He later allowed fingerprint testimony in the case.
Michael Saks, a law professor and fellow of the Center for the Study of Law, Science and Technology at Arizona State University, said that although fingerprint analysis provides strong evidence, it's not infallible.
One problem is that there's no scientific justification that only one person can match a fingerprint found at a crime scene, Saks said.
"You've got the fingerprint folks saying what no real scientists believe — that if you take any little smeared fragment of one of my fingerprints, that will match no other tiny smeared fragment of fingerprint of anyone else in the world."
Saks said fingerprint experts should start assigning a probability to their analysis, as is done in DNA forensic analysis. It may turn out, Saks said, that Mayfield's fingerprints are coincidentally similar to those of the Algerian suspect.
"You can't blame any investigator for saying, 'This makes him a person of great interest to us,' " Saks said. But if investigators say it's an absolute match, "it can turn around and bite them."
