US To Pay $2 Million, Apologize For False Terror Arrest

Brandon Mayfield, of Portland, Oregon, has settled a lawsuit against the United States for $2 million dollars, and an apology, after being accused and arrested of terrorism involving the Madrid bombings of 2004. The FBI had claimed to have found Mayfield's fingerprints on a plastic bag containing detonators, that was inside the van of the terrorists involved in the bombing. Further study of the fingerprint after the arrest found the identification to be a false match, and released Mayfield.



Well, I am happy that this was brought to justice, and feel sorry for the family still. It is one thing to have received a settlement, but another to still live out life being a person at one time accused of being a terrorist, especially during these times. I have yet to find out how the apology will be put out, though it seems the media is doing an ok job with that.

My other concern is what has the FBI been doing since it released Mayfield, and discovered that the fingerprint belonged to an Algerian Terrorist (link provided below)? I have not heard about his arrest and didn't find anything on initial searches.

Though the Office of the Inspector General said that the Patriot Act was not used incorrectly in this case, I will be interested to see how the follow up lawsuit against the constitutionality of the Patriot Act holds up in court.

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Related AboveTopSecret.com Discussion Threads:
TERRORISM: Lawyer in US linked to Madrid bombing -RELEASED- UPDATED May 20
The Real Crime: 1,000 Errors in Fingerprint Matching Every Year

It definately opens the doors for lawsuits against false terror arrests. This is huge!!

I love it.

As do I Ras, this seems to me something that would be easy to agree upon. This does nothing to undermine the "war on terror", if anything this would hone in the importance of making it what it should be. A smart foreign policy against terrorism, without the fear of violating others who are innocent, and done in true virtue of what this country is supposed to be about. I hope it opens more doors, and I hope that the Patriot Act will be challenged in the SCOTUS. There is nothing better to me than watching law work the way it is supposed to, and if someone feels that there rights are violated, their constitutional right to take the issue to court in order to settle it.

Of course, a honed in policy against terrorism domestic, and foreign, would involve going after all parties responsible.

Well, the FBI made a mistake and acknowledged it, it's the way it should be, there was no malicious intent here just a false positive, which is why I'm a bit apprehensive about the money part.

Also, I too hope the Patriot Act goes to the SCOTUS, for better or worse we can establish once and for all what the law will be. This will stop frivolous lawsuits and to eliminate the varying opinions of judges due to different districts.

What does the government care? Who just gave this guy 2 millions dollars? I bet the taxpayers just gave him 2 mil. I say the guy in charge at the FBI should have paid out of his own pockets.

Now everyone is happy we just lost 2 millions dollars in taxes because of a FBI screw up.

Imagine what will happen when our tax dollars go directly to pay for these people that get falsely targetted by the patriot act. It means that they will get more money for the governments false intelligence. This will happen more often if it keeps up.

That $2M is not going to go far enough to rebuild his clientele. Imagine how many dropped his services, and how many more will be reluctant to do a retainer.

I'm sorry, but one fingerprint and being a Muslim of choice is not enough reason for a conviction without corroborating evidence.