Oregon man gets $2 million, apology
PORTLAND – The federal government has agreed to pay Oregon lawyer Brandon Mayfield $2 million to settle part of the lawsuit he filed because of his mistaken arrest by FBI agents after the 2004 Madrid terrorist bombings.
“The pain and torture and humiliation that this (case) has caused my family is hard to put into words,” Mayfield, a Muslim convert, said at a Wednesday news conference after the settlement was announced. His wife, Mona, was at his side.
Mona Mayfield repeated what her husband argued in his lawsuit against the federal government: He was arrested because of his faith.
“We are Muslims. We are American. We are patriotic,” Mona Mayfield said. “We are unhappy with the current administration stripping away our rights.”
Even though Mayfield has settled part of the lawsuit, he is continuing his legal challenge to the anti-terror USA Patriot Act.
“I look forward to the day the Patriot Act is declared unconstitutional, and all citizens are safe from unwarranted arrest and searches by the federal government,” he said in a written statement earlier Wednesday.
Mayfield was arrested after a fingerprint found on a bag of detonators in Madrid was incorrectly matched to him after the March 11, 2004, train bombings that killed 191 people and wounded more than 1,500.
His arrest on May 6, 2004, came despite a challenge by Spanish National Police of the FBI’s conclusion of a fingerprint match. Mayfield says that during his detention federal agents threatened him with charges that carry the death penalty.
The FBI’s admission that the arrest was a mistake embarrassed the agency and forced the FBI to improve its fingerprint analysis procedures.
The local FBI office told the Associated Press on Wednesday it was “proud” of its work in the case – other than the fingerprint error.
“If a similar investigation was being conducted, and we were provided a fingerprint identification, we would do exactly what we did in the case of Mr. Mayfield,” said Robert Jordan, special agent in charge of the Portland FBI. “We are very proud of what we did here, but we recognize that our laboratory made a mistake.”
Jordan said that Mayfield was not targeted because of his religion and that his faith was discovered after the fingerprint identification.
“Of course we regret what happened to Mr. Mayfield, but again, we are proud of what we did here,” he said.
The government did not admit liability or fault in the settlement.
The FBI and the Justice Department repeatedly apologized for the arrest – and the government did so once again Wednesday as part of the settlement.
“The United States of America apologizes to Mr. Brandon Mayfield and his family for the suffering caused by the FBI’s misidentification of Mr. Mayfield’s fingerprint and the resulting investigation of Mr. Mayfield, including his arrest as a material witness in connection with the 2004 Madrid train bombings and the execution of search warrants and other court orders in the Mayfield family home and in Mr. Mayfield’s law office,” the apology reads.
Mayfield claims that the Patriot Act violates the Fourth Amendment because it allows government searches without probable cause that a crime has been committed.
“The Patriot Act is decidedly not patriotic,” said Elden Rosenthal, Mayfield’s attorney. “We will vigorously pursue this constitutional challenge to the highest courts in the country.”
The U.S. Justice Department has said there was no misuse of the Patriot Act during the Mayfield investigation.
Tasia Scolinos, spokeswoman for the Justice Department, also pointed out Wednesday that because of the Mayfield case the FBI has adopted suggestions for improving its fingerprint identification process “to ensure that what happened to Mr. Mayfield does not happen again.”