So Dan Gillmor wrote about Mike Hawash’s guilty plea today, but he still demonstrates an annoying ignorance of the basic facts surrounding the case. According to Gillmor,
Hawash was held without charges of any kind for weeks, incommunicado
and in a judicial limbo that only lifted when people started raising a
ruckus.
Sorry, Dan, but Hawash was not held incommunicado for weeks. He was granted access to a lawyer and contact with his family shortly after he was arrested.
Steve McGeady did claim that (emphasis added),
Mike was held incommunicado from his wife and attorneys for several days.
But nobody’s ever published a timeline of when he first saw a lawyer/talked to his wife, or what caused the delay. It’s likely the delay is related to the fact that Hawash was arrested — apparently completely by surprise to he and his wife — on a Thursday. The delay likely means he didn’t see a lawyer until the Monday after his arrest (if anyone has more concrete information, please e-mail me or post it here).
If he had been held for weeks incommunicado that would have been a major violation of his rights. But that simply never happened.