Five years ago, Boise defense lawyer David Nevin announced he would defend accused terrorist Khalid Sheikh Mohammed. Mohammed is considered the mastermind behind the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks. Mohammed along with other accused 9/11 terrorists are being held in Camp 7at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.
Pre-trial proceedings have been underway for some time with the trial set to begin next year. Sunday, Nevin told CBS’s Lesley Stahl on '60 Minutes' the process has been flawed.
“This is not a system set up to deliver justice,” Nevin said.
Mohammed was water boarded 183 times in one month. But Nevin can’t get any more details from the government.
“The government says they can’t talk publicly about what happened because it’s classified,” Nevin said. “If the government didn’t want to reveal its secrets to them it shouldn’t have tortured them.”
When Stahl pressed Nevin on Mohammed’s admission to being the mastermind of the 9/11 attacks, Nevin responded by saying “In the United States, we have a process. We follow it. We've always followed it. We apply it to everyone except not now.”
TheIdaho Statesmanprofiled Nevin in 2008 before the attorney announced he would represent Mohammed. Reporter Dan Popkey asked Nevin about his motive for representing someone accused of such a heinous act.
“Nevin said he’s obligated to defend constitutional principles, including the presumption of innocence for those accused of the most horrific of crimes. “You can’t have a justice system that is really fair and works unless you’re willing to provide a defense for everyone,” he said.” - Idaho Statesman
Nevin gained national attention in the early 1990s when he defended Kevin Harris. Harris was accused of murdering a deputy U.S. marshal in the Ruby Ridge standoff in north Idaho.
“His career is marked by a string of celebrated defenses, from neo-Nazis to Idaho’s worst environmental criminal, from business titans to a mother who helped her 14-year-old buy a pistol he used to kill a policeman. A 2004 terrorism trial prepared Nevin and McKay for the new case. They represented Sami al-Hussayen, a University of Idaho graduate student and Saudi national charged with three terrorism-related offenses.” - Idaho Statesman