Yesterday afternoon we received word from the 11th Circuit that the court had decided the case of the U.S. v. Campa, the case of the Cuban Five. The opinion is a 120-page opinion with a 68-page majority opinion by Judge Wilson and a 52-page dissent by Judge Birch. The decision affirms the trial court’s finding that venue should not have been changed in Miami and affirms the trial court’s finding that a new trial should not be ordered because of newly-discovered evidence. Where this leaves the case now is that the nine issues which are still pending before a 3-judge panel before the court will now have to be addressed and decided.

This decision is not the end of the case, far from it. There are nine additional issues which are still pending in the 3-judge panel before the court. We can, if we decide to, take this case to the U.S. Supreme Court by petitioning the court, by writ of certiorari, to hear the case.

Whether or not we take that additional step will be decided in the week ahead of us, when the six lawyers who are working on the case, when we digest the 120-page opinion and make a decision whether or not to go to the U.S. Supreme Court. If we decide to go to the Supreme Court, we will have 90 days within which to perfect our appeal, that is, the request for the appeal to the court. The government may or may not respond, and we will have to wait for a decision of the court. Everything will be stayed pending that decision.

If we decide not to go to the Supreme Court, then the matter is back before the three-judge panel, and we will await word from that panel as to how we should proceed on addressing those nine issues.

So there is still a long way to go on this case. In addressing the opinion of the court, we were of course very disappointed in the decision by Judge Wilson, a former U.S. attorney from Florida. We felt, as the defense felt, that the majority opinion completely overlooked the question of the coercive atmosphere that existed and has existed for years in Miami against anyone associated with the government of Cuba.

And it was that atmosphere which interfered with and denied the defendants a fair trial. The dissent in this case repeated what was written by Judge Birch in his original 90-page opinion a year ago, on Aug. 9: that what this case record represents is a “perfect storm” of prejudice. The dissent yesterday once again used the phrase that these defendants were faced with a perfect storm of prejudice, and it said this case never should have proceeded in the Miami venue. That, of course, that position of the two judges in dissent, is the position we agree with.

The majority whitewashed the question of the coercive atmosphere of Miami. You can read the 68 pages of their opinion and you will find no substantial reference to the pre-existing community prejudice in Miami against anyone associated with the government of Cuba. This curious--what the dissent calls, “omission of fact”--is something that we are very concerned about, and something which we might have to bring to the attention of the U.S. Supreme Court.

That is our position on the opinion and the question of where we go from here is something that will be decided in the week ahead.

(Antiterroristas.cu) 11-08-2006