Padilla Guilty!

CNN is reporting that Jose Padilla was found guilty on all counts by a jury in Miami today:

MIAMI, Florida (CNN) -- The jury in the Jose Padilla terror trial has convicted the American on charges of conspiracy to support Islamic terrorism overseas.

The verdict came after less than two days of deliberations, according to a U.S. District Court official.

Padilla and two co-defendants were convicted on all counts.

Padilla pleaded not guilty. At his trial, defense attorneys argued Padilla went overseas only to study Islam.

During the trial, prosecutors played more than 70 intercepted phone calls among the defendants for jurors, including seven that featured Padilla, 36. He is a Brooklyn-born convert to Islam originally arrested as a suspect in a "dirty bomb" plot.

Michelle Malkin reports:
Guilty Guilty Guilty

Allahpundit writes:

Heart-ache in nutrootsland — they got him on all three counts. Big win for Bush. A win too for Bush critics, in a sense: this will “prove” that the administration doesn’t need military tribunals to convict jihadis.

The AP salvages defeat from victory:
"The charges brought in civilian court in Miami, however, were a pale shadow of those initial [dirty bomb] claims in part because Padilla, 36, was interrogated about the plot when he was held as an enemy combatant for 3 1/2 years in military custody with no lawyer present and was not read his Miranda rights."

Ed Morrissey says:

This will present a test of the administration's efforts to use the court system to prosecute home-grown terrorists. If the Department of Justice loses this case, recriminations will fly over their handling of Padilla and the evidence they had to toss from their initial handling of Padilla's incarceration. If Padilla gets convicted, it may take a lot of steam out of the protests over this case and others like it -- although it could also turn into an argument for handling terrorism as a crime rather than an act of war.

UPDATE III: Everyone is talking about evidence being "circumstantial", but all evidence apart from eyewitness testimony is "circumstatial". They had his fingerprints on an application to join al-Qaeda. That's direct evidence, and apparently convincing enough to the jury. He's almost certain to get life in prison now; the death penalty is not applicable in this case.

Little Green Footballs notes:

Kos Kidz Hoping for Padilla Acquittal (Update - Guilty!) - A Kos diarist calls Padilla a “martyr” and fears the “coming police state:”

A red letter day I'm sure...now to hear from the Democratic Leadership on the travesty of convicting this mis-guided man, and my day will be complete.

Trackbacked by:
Padilla: Guilty On All Counts from baldilocks