Three weeks ago today, a well-educated man woke up, dressed himself in a collared shirt and tie, and prepared for another day in the Portland area.
Brandon Mayfield probably kissed his wife goodbye before driving from his modest Aloha home to his nearby office, where he defends those accused of various offenses.
On that day, Mayfield was himself arrested but charged with no crime. He was taken from his Beaverton law office in a Ford Explorer and placed in custody as a material witness in the March 11 train bombing, an act of terror that killed 191 people in Madrid, Spain.
Mayfield was guilty of no offense — is guilty of no misdeed — except being the latest victim in the U.S. government’s attempts to rid the world of terror, one Muslim at a time.
On Monday the FBI apologized to Mayfield for jailing him. The fingerprint that had been found on a bag of detonators halfway around the world wasn’t his, the bureau conceded. In the next few weeks it will be determined how such an error was made, but it’s becoming starkly clear that more than forensics were at play.
Three weeks before Mayfield’s arrest — sometime in mid-April — Spanish authorities began questioning the FBI’s conclusion that Mayfield’s print was an exact match to the one found in Madrid. Yet it took five more weeks before FBI officials went to Spain to inspect the actual print.
Human error may have caused Mayfield to become a suspect, but lackadaisical government allowed his persecution. The government has said it arrested Mayfield because of media leaks and fear that he would run, should he realize his suspect status.
The truth of the matter is that the FBI had evidence it failed to properly evaluate, but it had a ton of ammunition it thought led to a smoking gun.
Aside from the fingerprint, Mayfield is a Muslim convert. According to The Oregonian, which reviewed an affidavit filed by prosecutors, Mayfield had ties to a group arrested for plotting against the country; Mayfield handled a child-custody case for one of the Portland Seven defendants. Additionally, on Sept. 11, 2002, Mayfield called a man who is now on the federal terror watch list. Mayfield also has been seen going to a mosque, and his law firm was listed in a business directory of a Portland man who was a business associate of Wadih el-Hage, a man convicted of bombing two U.S. embassies in Africa.
Even though Mayfield hadn’t traveled outside the country and has an expired passport, the possibility existed, government officials suggested, that he could have traveled to Spain using another name.
Mayfield was taken into custody May 6.
Once in jail, Mayfield had his stay extended — investigators found $10,000 in his safe deposit box, which also contained passports for his family. In the meantime, the FBI took about a quarter of Mayfield’s client files, including those of clients “who have Arabic- or Muslim-sounding surnames.”
The government, instead of double-checking and questioning its own results, put the burden of proof on Mayfield, all the while building up its case against him.
While it’s legally true that justice has been achieved — Mayfield was released and exonerated — the man’s life will never be the same. His face was in TIME magazine. And, simply by the nature of the case, his patriotism is forever unjustly tainted.
This could have happened to another man, but it probably wouldn’t.
America’s war on terror carries a simple premise: Guilty until proven innocent, especially if the suspect has skin, ideological or religious differences than that of the status quo.
The George W. Bush look-alike/think-alike would have made it home three weeks ago after a long day at work. He would have loosened his tie as he walked in the front door to his house. He would have greeted his wife with a kiss.
Mayfield should have gotten the same treatment.
He should have been treated like the innocent American he is.