Sunday, January 15, 2006
When Not to Use the Evil Twin Defense
Most prosecutors have come across the evil twin defense (made popular by bad TV shows)--I didn't do it; my (cousin, brother, friend) who looks just like me, did it. Sometimes it's hard to get a conviction over that defense (as superbly competent, hard working attorney Nathan Chambers knows from the Crips golf club case). Other times, it's pretty easy to get past it, like when the cousin, brother, friend is merely a childhood pretend companion.
That last appears to be the case in the trial in Indianapolis of Shaaban Hafiz Ahmad Ali Shaaban, accused of acting as a foreign agent, violating sanctions against Iraq, conspiracy (et al.) for traveling to Iraq in late 2002 and offering to sell the names of American agents to Iraq. Shaaban says he never entered Iraq and maintains authorities have him confused with a twin brother.
Yesterday the good twin defendant's real older brother, Mohammed Hafiz Ahmed, 57, testified that no such twin exists. Their family has 19 children, including two sets of fraternal twins, but no identical twins.
Shaaban, who is representing himself, says that his brother is lying, but the brother has a letter Shaaban allegedly wrote from jail threatened Ahmed (who told jurors the letter said he might be beheaded depending on his testimony) while at the same time suggesting Ahmed pass himself off as Shaaban's twin brother during trial.
It's not looking too good for the Shaaban evil twin defense.
That last appears to be the case in the trial in Indianapolis of Shaaban Hafiz Ahmad Ali Shaaban, accused of acting as a foreign agent, violating sanctions against Iraq, conspiracy (et al.) for traveling to Iraq in late 2002 and offering to sell the names of American agents to Iraq. Shaaban says he never entered Iraq and maintains authorities have him confused with a twin brother.
Yesterday the good twin defendant's real older brother, Mohammed Hafiz Ahmed, 57, testified that no such twin exists. Their family has 19 children, including two sets of fraternal twins, but no identical twins.
Shaaban, who is representing himself, says that his brother is lying, but the brother has a letter Shaaban allegedly wrote from jail threatened Ahmed (who told jurors the letter said he might be beheaded depending on his testimony) while at the same time suggesting Ahmed pass himself off as Shaaban's twin brother during trial.
It's not looking too good for the Shaaban evil twin defense.
# posted by Roger Fraley @ 8:55 AM 
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Yea, lets hope they didn't. I hate it when we have to let people go free over little technicalities like the constitution.
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