NEWARK, N.J. (AP) — The American Civil Liberties Union is representing a man accused of setting off bombs in New York and New Jersey and injuring 31 people.
A lawyer for the organization’s New Jersey chapter entered a notice of appearance in Ahmad Khan Rahami’s case in federal court in Newark on Monday.
Rahami has been hospitalized since he was caught following a shootout with police in Linden last week. Prosecutors said he had been incapacitated and intubated since undergoing surgery for his wounds.
He was charged by federal prosecutors in both states.
ACLU attorney Alexander Shalom says Rahami’s father and wife requested the ACLU represent him until he is appointed a federal public defender or other lawyer.
A federal judge last week denied a public defender’s request to be appointed.
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And this is why we need an ACLU. Good for them.
Very strange that the judge would deny appointing a federal public defender.
What’s up with that? Anybody?
My best (uneducated) guess is that he may need to request a public defender himself, but he’s been incapacitated and thus unable to do so. Until the legal process starts and he can do that, I assume that’s what the ACLU is filling in for.
On what grounds?