dictionary

Ruling expected next week on classified material in Walker Lindh case

John Walker Lindh in a court appearance earlier this week.

ALEXANDRIA, Virginia (CNN) -- A judge said Wednesday he expects to issue an order next week on how classified documents will be handled at the approaching trial of John Walker Lindh -- the American who was captured in Afghanistan while fighting for the Taliban.

U.S. District Judge T.S. Ellis III said there was a "broad range of agreement reached on documents," but he offered no details.

Government and defense attorneys met in court Wednesday, discussing which classified documents can be used in the trial of Lindh, a 21-year-old from California, scheduled to start in late August.

There was a motion before the judge to declare two defense team members eligible to access classified documents. But Ellis declined to rule Wednesday, citing pending procedural issues on the question of classified access.

RESOURCES • Defendant's motion alleging combat immunity  • U.S. opposition to changing venue  (FindLaw documents, PDF format)   EXTRA INFORMATION • Timeline: The John Walker Lindh case  • People in the News: John Walker Lindh profile      LEGAL RESOURCES Latest Legal News Law Library FindLaw Consumer Center Select a topic Bankruptcy Discrimination Divorce Estate Planning Landlord-Tenant Personal Injury Taxes

Also, the judge postponed a hearing that had been scheduled for June 24 on subpoenas related to the defense team's effort to suppress statements Walker Lindh made separately to the military and during an interview with CNN.

The defense team wants to interview seven witnesses it has described as key to their suppression case. Five of the people have agreed to be interviewed by the defense; one has not been located and another has declined to be interviewed.

The judge said he did not want to have the hearing until the interviews are complete and the last person is located. He also said the defense team and government lawyers have to agree on what to do with the person who has declined to be interviewed.

On Tuesday, attorneys for Walker Lindh filed new motions attacking the government case against their client. That move came one day after Ellis denied all motions to dismiss the charges against Walker Lindh or to change the location of the trial.

In the latest motions, the defense focused on what many consider to be its best shot -- the effort to suppress what the government has described as a confession that Walker Lindh made to the military while in custody of U.S. forces in Afghanistan. This statement by Walker Lindh during interrogation is considered vital to the prosecution.

But the defense motions argue the government had a constitutional obligation to bring Walker Lindh before a judge and outline reasons to hold him -- all within 48 hours. "In defiance of the law and with full knowledge that John Lindh had representation, the government intentionally prolonged bringing him before a judge, while blocking messages from counsel.. It's calculated purpose was to interrogate him unchecked," the motion said.

It took U.S. officials, the defense contends, 55 days to fulfill their obligation and bring Lindh before a magistrate.

"If the government fails to bring a suspect before a magistrate within six hours of apprehension, any subsequent statements must be suppressed," the defense lawyers argued.

Walker Lindh was taken into custody by the U.S. military after a bloody prison uprising, which began in late November in Afghanistan. During that uprising, CIA agent Mike Spann was killed.

The charges against the defendant include: conspiring to kill Americans overseas, providing support to al Qaeda and other terrorist groups, and using firearms and other destructive devices during crimes of violence.

If convicted of all the charges, he could receive up to three life sentences, plus 90 years in prison

Tuesday's motions were accompanied by more than 100 pages of transcripts and newspaper articles, including an interview of Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld by CNN's Larry King, Senate testimony from Attorney General John Ashcroft, and other exhibits that the lawyers said demonstrated the administration was well aware of Walker Lindh's circumstances.

"The government," said the defense lawyers, "intentionally delayed bringing Mr. Lindh before a neutral party to wring involuntary statements from him."

Quoting a legal precedent, they said, "This tactic has long been condemned as one of the 'easy but self-defeating ways in which brutality is substituted for brains as an instrument of crime detection.' "

The defense motion concludes: "All statements Mr. Lindh purportedly made after December 3, 2001, must be suppressed." December 3 is the first day they claim Lindh was questioned. That matter is scheduled for a July 15 hearing.

In a second motion filed late in the day Tuesday, Walker Lindh's attorneys further asked that a videotape of him being questioned by CIA agents, including Spann, should not be allowed in as evidence.

Walker Lindh remained silent during that interrogation.

"The videotape of Mr. Lindh's interrogation, the interrogation transcript and Mr. Lindh's silence must be suppressed under the Fifth Amendment's privilege against self-incrimination," they wrote. They added, "Any attempt by Mr. Lindh to speak would have risked torture and death at the hands of the Northern Alliance."

-- CNN National Correspondent Bob Franken and Producer Laura Bernardini contributed to this report