Cole defense team overruled

The U.S. Court of Military Commissions review court sided Oct. 12 – the 18-year anniversary date of the terrorist attack against USS Cole at the Port of Aden in Yemen - with the trial judge in the case ruling that defense lawyers had no authority to quit the case over ethics questions raised by discovery of a microphone in their meeting room, which had stalled the case since February. A Pentagon spokesman had no immediate comment on when the pre-trial proceedings would resume at Naval Base Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, in the death-penalty case against Abd al Rahim al Nashiri. The court's calendar shows the Cole case has been assigned to a courtroom for the entire month of October. The Saudi native is accused of master-minding al-Qaida's Oct. 12, 2000, suicide bombing of the destroyer that killed 17 American sailors and wounded dozens of others, including two of three Navy chiefs with connections to Pensacola, Fla. He has been held by the U.S. since 2002 but charged in 2011. The 57-page decision by review panel also ruled that the chief defense counsel, Marine Brig. Gen. John Baker, did not have authority to let civilian lawyers quit the case a year ago. The trial judge, Air Force Col. Vance Spath, convicted Baker of contempt of court, fined him $1,000 and ordered Baker confined for 21 days. Baker’s conviction was later overturned by U.S. District Court Judge Royce Lamberth, which found a war court judge did not have unilateral contempt authority. (Source: Miami Herald 10/13/18)