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'Shoe bomb' suspect drugged during flight

May not have remembered rights, doctor says

Reid is accused of trying to set off a bomb during Paris-to-Miami flight in December.

BOSTON, Massachusetts (CNN) -- Attorneys for Richard Reid, the man charged with trying to detonate bombs in his shoes during a trans-Atlantic flight, asked a judge Wednesday to throw out statements he made to the FBI after the incident.

They argued that sedatives he was given during the December 22 flight could have affected his ability to think clearly.

Flight attendants and passengers aboard the plane subdued Reid after he was allegedly seen trying to light the inner tongue of his sneaker, from which a wire was protruding. In the struggle he bit a flight attendant.

Reid, 29, a British citizen and convert to Islam, is accused of trying to set off explosives concealed in his sneakers while on American Airlines Flight 63 from Paris to Miami.

Two French doctors on board the flight injected three drugs into Reid, including an antihistamine and the sedatives Valium and Narcan. The plane was diverted to Boston.

Dr. Mark Dershwitz, the vice chairman of anesthesiology at the University of Massachusetts Medical School, testified for the defense at the evidence suppression hearing that the drugs could have impaired Reid's memory.

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He said that while Reid may have understood his Miranda rights at the time they were read to him -- about four hours after he got off the flight -- the drugs could have affected his short-term memory to the point that within 15 minutes, he could have forgotten his right to an attorney or his right to remain silent.

"His memory of being read his rights could be gone and he might not remember," Dershwitz said.

But prosecutor Gerard Leone focused on Dershwitz's acknowledgment that Reid "understood all that was said to him at that time" when he was read his Miranda rights.

Prosecutors said that despite the drugs, Reid knew what he was saying when he talked to FBI agents. They are expected to call witnesses who will talk about the suspect's "aggressive" behavior, even after the plane landed.

The government claims Reid was trained to be a terrorist by Osama bin Laden's al Qaeda organization in Afghanistan.

Before the hearing adjourned for the day, federal Judge William Young heard briefly from Bradley Davis, an FBI agent who interviewed Reid. Asked why authorities wanted to interview Reid so soon after the plane landed, Davis said agents had feared that in light of the September 11 attacks "others may have assisted" Reid and still could have been loose.

The hearing is scheduled to resume next week.

Tuesday, the judge dismissed one of the nine terrorism-related charges against Reid -- attempted wrecking of a mass transportation vehicle. It was the first time anybody had been charged with that offense, covered under the USA Patriot Act passed by Congress after September 11.

In dismissing the count, Young said an aircraft "is not a vehicle as that word is used by Congress" because it not transporting people on land. He also said the charge overlapped with another count against Reid -- using a destructive device during a crime of violence.

Reid's trial is scheduled to start November 4. If convicted on all counts -- which include placing explosives aboard an aircraft -- Reid could receive five life sentences.