The lawsuit was filed in the U.S. District Brandon Mayfield Court in Portland in the fall of 2004. In July Oklahoma Prosecutor Sues Awarded $2 Million For 2005 U.S. District Judge denied John Grisham For Libel the government’s motion for summary judg- False Imprisonment ment, which allowed discovery to proceed. By JD Staff By JD Staff A panel of international forensic experts onald Williamson and Dennis Fritz commissioned by the FBI to investigate Rwere exonerated by DNA evidence and ombs planted on four how the agency’s crime lab misidentified freed in 1999 after 12 years of wrongful Bcommuter trains in Mayfield, issued its report in November imprisonment for the 1982 murder of Deb- Madrid, Spain killed 191 2004. It found that the three FBI’s finger- bie Sue Carter in Ada, Oklahoma. people on March 11, print examiners involved in the case had 2004. Spanish authorities committed human error, caused by peer Pontotoc County D. A. William Peterson pros- asked the FBI for help in pressure to support the initial identification ecuted Williamson and Fritz, and former Okla- identifying the person whose fingerprints of Mayfield as the source of the print. homa Bureau of Investigation agent Gary L. were found on a plastic bag of detonators Rogers investigated the case. On September linked to the bombings. Mayfield settled the monetary part of his 29, 2007, Peterson and Rogers filed a federal lawsuit for $2 million in November 2006. lawsuit in Muskogee, Oklahoma that alleges Eight days later FBI fingerprint analysts iden- However, the settlement allowed him to they were libeled and slandered by a conspira- tified the fingerprints were those of Brandon continue the part of the suit challenging the cy engaged in by the authors of four books that Mayfield, a 38-year-old Portland, at- constitutionality of the USA ’s discuss the case of Williamson and Fritz. torney. Mayfield was also a Muslim. The FBI provisions allowing warrantless searches. began intensive warrantless surveillance of When the settlement was announced May- The lawsuit’s most prominent defendant is Mayfield, his family, and his law practice, field said, “The power of the government to author John Grisham, whose many books tapping home and business phone calls, moni- secretly search your home or business with- have sold more than 250 million copies. His toring emails, and secretly searching his home out probable cause, under the guise of an only non-fiction book is The Innocent Man, and his law office. In surveiling Mayfield, the alleged terrorist investigation, must be which is a quasi-biography of Williamson. FBI invoked Patriot Act provisions that elimi- stopped. I look forward to the day when the Fritz is named as a defendant for Journey nate the need for a warrant based on probable Patriot Act is declared unconstitutional, and Toward Justice, his autobiographical account cause in cases involving terrorism allegations. all citizens are safe from unwarranted arrest of his prosecution. Robert Mayer is named as and searches by the Federal Government.” a defendant for The Dreams of Ada, about the After six weeks of probing into every aspect prosecution of two men for a woman’s 1984 of Mayfield’s life, on May 6 the FBI arrest- On September 26, 2007, Judge Aiken ruled murder in Ada that had similarities to ed him on a material witness warrant for his that two Patriot Act provisions — authoriz- Carter’s murder — which Mayer discusses in suspected involvement in the Madrid bomb- ing secret and warrantless searches and his book. Also named as a defendant is Barry ings. However, Mayfield insisted to the fed- wiretapping to gather evidence for a crimi- Scheck, who was one of Fritz’s lawyers and eral public defender assigned to represent nal case — are unconstitutional violations of a co-author of Actual Innocence, that discuss- him, that it could not be his fingerprints on the Fourth Amendment’s protection against es Williamson and Fritz’s case. In addition to the bag because he had never been to Spain, unreasonable searches and seizures. (The these individuals, the publishers of the four he had not been out of the United States for two sections are 50 U.S.C. §§ 1804 and books are named as defendants. ten years, and he didn’t even have a passport. 1823) Aiken wrote, “For over 200 years, this nation has adhered to the rule of law — with The lawsuit claims the defendants conspired Mayfield’s protestations were validated on unparalleled success. A shift to a nation to libel Peterson and Rogers, portrayed them May 20 when the Spanish National Police based on extra-constitutional authority is in a false light to promote their books, and (SNP) publicly announced that the prints on prohibited, as well as ill-advised.” (43) intentionally inflicted emotional distress up- the bag matched an Algerian with a police Mayfield v. United States, No. 04-1427-AA on them. The lawsuit claims “the defendants record and a Spanish residency permit. It also (D.Ore. 09/26/2007). Judge Aiken’s 44- launched this attack through the use of became public that the SNP told the FBI on page ruling will be appealed by the govern- speeches, interviews and simultaneously April 13 that their comparison of Mayfield’s ment to the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals. publishing three books that were all three fingerprint with the one on the plastic bag strategically released in October of 2006.” was “conclusively negative.” Mayfield was The Patriot Act provisions declared uncon- The Innocent Man and Journey Toward Jus- conditionally released the next day. Three stitutional by Judge Aiken have caused tice were published in October 2006, and days later the warrant against him was dis- much controversy since its enactment a The Dreams of Ad was reissued in October missed when the FBI conceded it had mistak- month after the events of September 11, 2006 with new comments by Mayer. enly identified his prints as matching those 2001. Only a handful of Representatives on the detonator bag. The FBI also issued a and Senators read the Patriot Act before Fritz said when informed about the lawsuit, rare public apology to Mayfield. voting for its passage — so they were un- “It’s nothing more than a power play to get aware they were voting to undermine the people to believe (Peterson) did nothing In June 2004 Mayfield hired well-known rights of Americans under the Constitution. wrong. It has no merit. We simply told the attorney Gerry Spence as the lead lawyer truth and I have a right to write what my Sources: “That’s Not My Fingerprint, Your Honor”, for his civil lawsuit against the federal gov- Justice:Denied magazine, Issue 25, Summer 2004, pp. 11-14, 19. thoughts were.” ernment. Spence said he agreed to become Mayfield calls in heavy hitter, By Ben Jacklet, Portland Tribune, Sep- tember 28, 2004. (Spence quote.) Sources: involved because, “Our basic rights under Brandon Mayfield wins $2 million against Feds, By Lew Nassa, PDX Indy Peterson , et al v. Grisham, et al, 07-CV317 (E.D.Okla.) Media Ctr, November 29, 2006. (Mayfield Patriot Act quote.) the Constitution are in jeopardy, and that’s Panel: FBI peer pressure led to lawyer’s arrest, AP story, John Grisham named in libel lawsuit, AP report, what this is about.” Longview Daily News, November 17, 2004. MSNBC.com, September 28, 2007. (Fritz quote.)

JUSTICE DENIED: THE MAGAZINE FOR THE WRONGLY CONVICTED PAGE 13 ISSUE 37 - SUMMER 2007