Brandon Mayfield settles for $2 million
PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) - Oregon attorney Brandon Mayfield, wrongly arrested by FBI agents after the 2004 Madrid terrorist bombings, has settled his lawsuit against the U.S. government for $2 million, his lawyer said Wednesday.
The lawsuit said Mayfield was wrongly arrested on the basis of misidentified fingerprints. Mayfield, a convert to Islam, said he was arrested because of his faith. He was held for two weeks in 2004.
FBI experts mistakenly matched a fingerprint found on a bag of detonators in Madrid to Mayfield's after the March 11, 2004 train bombings that killed 191 people and wounded more than 1,500.
Mayfield was jailed on a material witness warrant but was released after the FBI acknowledged the fingerprint were not his.
The government admitted in the settlement that it "performed covert physical searches of the Mayfield home and law office, and it also conducted electronic surveillance targeting Mr. Mayfield at both his home and law ofice," according to a statement released by Mayfield's attorney, Elden Rosenthal.
As part of the settlement, the government once again apologized to the Mayfield family, Rosenthal said.
"The United States of America apologizes to Mr. Brandon Mayfield and his family for the suffering caused by the FBI's misidentification of Mr. Mayfield's fingerprint and the resulting investigation of Mr. Mayfield, including his arrest as a material witness in connection with the 2004 Madrid train bombings and the execution of search warrants and other court orders in the Mayfield family home and in Mr. Mayfield's lawsuits," the latest apology read, according to Rosenthal.
The FBI and the U.S. Attorney General's Office did not immediately return calls from The Associated Press seeking comment.
(Copyright 2006 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
The lawsuit said Mayfield was wrongly arrested on the basis of misidentified fingerprints. Mayfield, a convert to Islam, said he was arrested because of his faith. He was held for two weeks in 2004.
FBI experts mistakenly matched a fingerprint found on a bag of detonators in Madrid to Mayfield's after the March 11, 2004 train bombings that killed 191 people and wounded more than 1,500.
Mayfield was jailed on a material witness warrant but was released after the FBI acknowledged the fingerprint were not his.
The government admitted in the settlement that it "performed covert physical searches of the Mayfield home and law office, and it also conducted electronic surveillance targeting Mr. Mayfield at both his home and law ofice," according to a statement released by Mayfield's attorney, Elden Rosenthal.
As part of the settlement, the government once again apologized to the Mayfield family, Rosenthal said.
"The United States of America apologizes to Mr. Brandon Mayfield and his family for the suffering caused by the FBI's misidentification of Mr. Mayfield's fingerprint and the resulting investigation of Mr. Mayfield, including his arrest as a material witness in connection with the 2004 Madrid train bombings and the execution of search warrants and other court orders in the Mayfield family home and in Mr. Mayfield's lawsuits," the latest apology read, according to Rosenthal.
The FBI and the U.S. Attorney General's Office did not immediately return calls from The Associated Press seeking comment.
(Copyright 2006 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)