Defending 'the most hated man in the world'

Prince, a Southern lawyer who only a year ago was running a small civilian defense practice, expects the case to go on for years and culminate in a landmark Supreme Court decision. To him, it's not only the welfare of his infamous client that matters, but also protecting the integrity of the Constitution, which he says the Bush administration has trampled by coercing information out of Mohammed and subjecting him to a system of military justice that is stacked against him.

"I think it's the constitutional case of our time," Prince, 53, said in a recent interview in his office, U.S. and Navy flags front and center on his desk. "Because in the 221st year of America, the question is whether the Constitution applies to the government."

Mohammed, a U.S.-educated engineer who is believed to be 43 or 44, was once the operations chief and third in command of Al Qaeda. In a preliminary court proceeding at Guantanamo last year, he claimed credit for dozens of terrorist plots and attacks -- bragging, for instance, about how he orchestrated Sept. 11 "from A to Z" and how he personally beheaded Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl because he was a Jew.

Mohammed may be the killer he claims to be; during their meetings, Prince said, he was a model client and the picture of decorum and politeness. "He does not come across as angry or bitter or hateful," said Prince. "He is unquestionably involved and engaged in his defense."

So far, Mohammed has not formally committed to allowing Prince and a still-forming legal team to represent him. And Mohammed has not indicated how he wants to plead at his arraignment. But it is Prince's impression that he is considering supporting what is likely to be a protracted legal battle waged by a small team of military and civilian lawyers against the might of the U.S. government.

"I have no idea whether he did even half of those things he is accused of doing," Prince said. "But if he did commit those offenses, there are still issues of whether this court has jurisdiction, whether he is an enemy combatant who should be tried in a tribunal of this nature."

Expecting an appeal

Prince said he was framing the defense case with an eye toward appealing the decision made to try Mohammed in a military commission -- and toward appealing whatever verdict comes from it. He and other lawyers for the defendants are also moving to have the case thrown out or transferred to a military court-martial or even federal court, where Mohammed was indicted in absentia in 1996 on suspicion of plotting to bomb U.S. airliners over the Pacific.