MIAMI – A federal judge on Monday threw out one count in the terror indictment against alleged Al Qaeda operative Jose Padilla and his co-defendants, concluding that it repeated other charges in the same indictment.
The ruling by U.S. District Judge Marcia Cooke leaves intact two other terror-related counts against Padilla and the others alleging a conspiracy to provide material support to Islamic extremist causes worldwide.
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The count that was dropped charged a conspiracy to "murder, kidnap and maim persons in a foreign country."
Cooke ruled that charge was unnecessary because the alleged illegal acts were already covered by the other terror-related counts in the indictment. Prosecuting all three charges, she said, would violate the Constitution's ban against double jeopardy, or prosecution of the same charges twice.
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