Australian detainee David Hicks has pleaded guilty to a charge of providing material support to terrorism. Hicks is the first detainee to face prosecution under revised military tribunals set up after the Supreme Court found the Pentagon's previous system for trying Guantanamo prisoners unconstitutional.At the pretrial hearing, Hicks asked for more lawyers to help defend him against charges he supported al-Qaeda in Afghanistan, but the presiding military officer instead ordered two civilian attorneys to leave the defense table, leaving the defendant with one attorney.
The heavyset 31-year-old Hicks, wearing a khaki prison jumpsuit, had told the court he was satisfied with his defense team but wanted more lawyers and paralegals "to get equality with the prosecution."
The judge, Marine Col. Ralph Kohlmann, instead said two civilian lawyers, including a Defense Department attorney, were not authorized to represent Hicks. He ordered them to leave the defense table when Hicks said he wouldn't settle for them being designated consultants.
One of the lawyers, Joshua Dratel, said he refused to sign an agreement to abide by tribunal rules because he was concerned the provisions did not allow him to meet with his client in private. "I'm shocked because I just lost another lawyer," Hicks said after Dratel's departure, drawing a scolding from the judge for interrupting as he explained the reasoning for removing the lawyers.
Hicks' Pentagon-appointed attorney, Marine Maj. Michael Mori, challenged Kohlmann's partiality, arguing that his participation in the previous round of military trials that the Supreme Court last year found to be illegal created the appearance of bias.