Defending 'the most hated man in the world'

The first meeting between attorney and defendant took place April 24. As he approached the interview room, Prince stopped. "I took a deep breath and said, 'Oh my word, I'm about to meet Khalid Shaikh Mohammed,' " Prince recalled. "I walked in and introduced myself. I offered my hand, and he shook it. And then I was just working with a client."

Prince said Mohammed was smaller than he had imagined. He gave his business card to his new client, who put it in his stack of legal papers, and discussed his rights. Prince said he told Mohammed that, despite his military uniform, he and his legal team were there to defend him to the hilt, as part of an American justice system that guarantees legal representation for all.

Prince also told Mohammed that he believed the military commission proceedings were inherently unfair and that he would try to get Mohammed's confessions thrown out, along with other evidence reportedly obtained through coercive techniques.

And he assured him that his team would fight the case on appeal, no matter how long it took.

Mohammed listened, and when Prince was done, they began a long dialogue, talking for several hours about the nuts and bolts of the commission proceedings.

From the start, Prince's trust-building efforts were helped by the fact that Mohammed speaks English well and does not require a translator. Mohammed, who graduated from North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University, "speaks better English than most taxi drivers in the D.C. area," Prince said. "Sometimes he will search for a word, and ask if a certain word is proper."

A mental disorder?

Prince said that although Mohammed usually seems sharp and attentive, Prince is beginning to see indications that Mohammed might have some kind of disorder that distorts his judgment.

"It is very likely that he is cognitively impaired," said Prince, who has a master's degree in psychology as well as a law degree. "I can't point to one thing, but I do have concern as to his functioning level."

That could explain why Mohammed has boasted about being behind so many terrorist plots, Prince said, including some in which U.S. intelligence officials believe he played no role. Prince said he planned to raise the issue at trial and to seek a psychological evaluation of Mohammed, including a neuropsychiatric exam, to see if the suspected impairment was a result of his incarceration.