November 16, 2009

STATEMENT FROM NEW YORK STATE BAR ASSOCIATION PRESIDENT MICHAEL E. GETNICK
 ON DECISION TO PROSECUTE 9/11 DEFENDANTS IN U.S. DISTRICT COURT IN MANHATTAN

New York State Bar Association President Michael E. Getnick (Getnick Livingston Atkinson and Priore, LLP of Utica and of counsel to Getnick & Getnick of New York City) released the following statement regarding the decision to try the five defendants charged with involvement in the September 11, 2001 attacks in U.S. District Court in Manhattan:

“The Guantanamo Bay detainees must receive all due process rights afforded to them by the law.  That is why earlier this year the State Bar Association co-sponsored a resolution – adopted by the American Bar Association’s House of Delegates – that called upon the Obama Administration to guarantee that all detainees held on criminal charges be prosecuted in Federal District Court unless the U.S. Attorney General certifies, in cases involving recognized war crimes, that prosecution cannot take place in federal courts and can be held in other venues in a manner that comports with due process and is consistent with the Geneva Conventions and the Uniform Code of Military Justice.

“Our federal courts are certainly capable of handling high-profile cases that are legally and emotionally challenging, and I am confident that our system of justice will serve as an example to the world that, even in circumstances such as these, the rule of law must and will prevail.”

For a full copy of the resolution visit www.nysba.org/guantanamoresolution.

Founded in 1876, the 76,000-member New York State Bar Association is the official statewide organization of lawyers in New York and the largest voluntary state bar association in the nation. The State Bar’s programs and activities have continuously served the public and improved the justice system for more than 130 years.

###