Lindh’s Lawyers May Get Video Link to Cuba

A federal judge said Monday that he is considering a video hookup to allow lawyers for American-born Taliban soldier John Walker Lindh to interview detainees held at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

U.S. District Judge T.S. Ellis III said defense requests for interviews with the detainees present an unprecedented legal conflict between a defense’s right to speak with witnesses who could help a defendant and the government’s attempt to gather intelligence in the war on terrorism.

Lindh’s attorneys have demanded face-to-face interviews, but the government has rejected such a procedure.

Lindh, who is charged with conspiring to murder U.S. citizens, appeared in the courtroom wearing glasses for the first time. His mother, Marilyn Walker, sat in the second row, but Lindh’s father, Frank Lindh, did not attend the proceeding as he has in the past.

Ellis, who set another hearing on the issue for May 28, said defense lawyers seeking to interview potential witnesses would normally have the right “to look them in the eye.”

But he said that, given national security concerns, that argument “isn’t going to persuade me for pretrial interviews.”

Assistant U.S. Atty. John Davis said he wasn’t sure the Defense Department would even allow a video hookup because it could impede intelligence gathering.

If that were the case, the judge said, “the government would not be able to proceed against this defendant.”

Ellis said he was thinking of allowing a video hookup so defense lawyers could see the detainees and assess their credibility.

The judge asked both sides to either reach an agreement between themselves or present final legal briefs that would allow him to resolve the issue.