Today, a federal jury in Miami found designated "enemy combatant" Jose Padilla guilty of multiple terrorism and conspiracy charges. For an embittered case that has gone on for quite a few years (Padilla was one of the first Americans to be declared an "enemy combatant" by the Bush administration in the immediate aftermath of the September 11th attacks), the jury spent fairly little time in deliberation before convicting Padilla - just under a day, according to the New York Times article reviewing the decision.

Much of the controversy surrounding Padilla's case concerns his rights as an American citizen vs. his (lack of) rights as an enemy combatant. In addition, his lawyers have argued that Padilla should not have been fit to stand trial, as Padilla has asserted that he was tortured when held in isolation in a military brig in South Carolina for three years (also, without any access to a lawyer.) Padilla claims he was excessively deprived of sleep and almost any stimulus while in the brig, but the government has repeatedly denied that they mistreated and/or abused Padilla.

Human Rights Watch gives a good legal summary of Padilla's case and its excessive entanglements. What seems upsetting and disturbing is that despite these complications, the jury was fairly resolute in their decision, and the notion of Padilla's alleged torture has been ambiguously left up in the air (or, rather, swept aside). His lawyers are concerned that suspicion and fear may have overruled what they believe is lack of "hard evidence" in the jury's decision.

Dr. Angela Hegarty, director of forensic psychiatry at the Creedmoor Psychiatric Center in Queens, N.Y., spent 22 hours with Padilla, evaluating the state of his mental health. She determined that the interrogation techniques that were used against him had destroyed his mind.

Amy Goodman (who is coming to Stanford) interviewed Dr. Hegarty regarding her session with Padilla. The following is a portion of this interview.

Goodman: What was the effect of over three-and-a-half years of isolation on Jose Padilla?

Dr. Hegarty: I think there's two things, really. Number one, his family, more than anything, and his friends, who had a chance to see him by the time I spoke with them, said he was changed. There was something wrong. There was something very "weird" -- was the word one of his siblings used -- something weird about him. There was something not right. He was a different man. And the second thing was his absolute state of terror, terror alternating with numbness, largely. It was as though the interrogators were in the room with us. He was like -- perhaps like a trauma victim who knew that they were going to be sent back to the person who hurt them and that he would, as I said earlier, he would subsequently pay a price if he revealed what happened. So I think those would be the two main things.

"Also he had developed, actually, a third thing. He had developed really a tremendous identification with the goals and interests of the government. I really considered a diagnosis of Stockholm syndrome. For example, at one point in the proceedings, his attorneys had, you know, done well at cross-examining an FBI agent, and instead of feeling happy about it like all the other defendants I've seen over the years, he was actually very angry with them. He was very angry that the civil proceedings were "unfair to the commander-in-chief," quote/unquote. And in fact, one of the things that happened that disturbed me particularly was when he saw his mother. He wanted her to contact President Bush to help him, help him out of his dilemma. He expected that the government might help him, if he was "good," quote/unquote."