PORTLAND — Defense attorneys argued Wednesday morning that the government violated the constitutional rights of a Portland man convicted of terrorism charges by searching his communications as part of the U.S. government’s bulk data collection program.
Mohamed Mohamud’s attorneys said he should be acquitted or granted a new trial.
They say prosecutors failed to notify them of the use of information derived under the U.S. Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act until Mohamud already was convicted. That failure, they say, withheld important information from the defense team and violated Mohamud’s constitutional rights.
Prosecutors responded in court filings that they didn’t disclose any new information when they informed Mohamud’s defense team of the surveillance in November. They also said the order to disclose such use of surveillance from the U.S. Justice Department didn’t come until after Mohamud’s conviction.
Mohamud was convicted last year of attempting to detonate a bomb at Portland’s Christmas tree-lighting ceremony in 2010.
The purported plot was actually an FBI sting and the bomb was a fake.
