Raymond Davis, CIA Contractor, Appears Defiant Before Pakistani Judge
Raymond Davis, held in shootings, refuses to sign charging documents.
Feb. 25, 2011 — -- Raymond Davis, a CIA contractor accused of killing two men on the streets of Lahore, Pakistan, appeared before a Pakistani judge today and refused to sign a list of allegations against him, a lawyer in the court said.
During the hearing, which was held in the jail where Davis is being detained due to security reasons, court officials read aloud the allegations of murder and then presented the charging documents in English to Davis, an attorney for the family of the victims, Asad Manzoor Butt, and a U.S. official told ABC News. The handcuffed Davis, however, refused to sign the document and instead presented to the judge a written notice declaring diplomatic immunity, Butt said.
Since his arrest last month, the U.S. government has demanded Davis be released on the condition of diplomatic immunity since the State Department said he carried a diplomatic passport as a member of the "administrative and technical staff" of the U.S. embassy in Islamabad. U.S. Consul General in Lahore, Carmela Conroy, was present for today's trial, a U.S. official told ABC News, along with members of her staff. But Davis was not afforded an attorney, Butt said.
It's not the first time that Davis, who was recently revealed to be working for the CIA, has resisted cooperation on grounds of diplomatic immunity. In a police interrogation video obtained by ABC News, Davis refuses to answer the officers' questions and attempts to abruptly leave the room.
"I'm not answering any questions. I'm not. No questions. You have my statement. I have diplomatic immunity," a visibly frustrated Davis says. Police then tell him that based on his passport, he does not appear to be a diplomat.
"OK. Do you have it? Can I see it?" Davis says. "Very front page, diplomatic immunity."
When police continue questioning him, Davis tries to leave the room.
"I'm not answering any questions. I'm going back to my room," he says.
CLICK HERE to see the interrogation video and the latest on the Raymond Davis case on this week's "Brian Ross Investigates".
U.S. officials have expressed concern over Davis' safety in Lahore's Kot Lakhpat jail, where dogs are reportedly being used to test his food for poison and the guards near his cell have had their guns taken away.
"[Pakistani officials] have told us that he is in the safest possible location in Lahore," State Department spokesman P.J. Crowley told reporters Monday. "And clearly, we hold the government of Pakistan fully responsible for his safety."
While today's hearing dealt with the criminal charges against Davis, a higher court in Lahore is also determining whether Davis should enjoy diplomatic immunity, a U.S. official told ABC News.
Davis is expected to stay in prison until his next court hearing, scheduled for March 3.
Officials Reveal Davis' Secret Role in Pakistan
In the fullest account yet of how the American official came to be held for the deadly shooting in Pakistan, three current officials told ABC News earlier this week who Davis was working for and what he was doing on Jan. 27 when the incident occurred.
According to a current senior U.S. official and a senior intelligence consultant who worked with Davis, the 36-year-old American is a former Blackwater contractor who was posted to Lahore as part of the CIA's Global Response Staff, or GRS, a unit of security and bodyguards assigned to war zones and troubled countries such as Afghanistan and Pakistan. Members of the GRS most often accompany CIA case officers, who meet with clandestine sources.
Davis and a group of fellow security officers lived in a safehouse in Lahore. The CIA keeps safehouses for security personnel in an effort to limit the ability for militants to track their movements, the intelligence contractor said.
On Jan. 27, Davis left the safehouse and conducted an "area familiarization route," according to the senior U.S. official. He drove through various Lahore neighborhoods for several hours. It was during his route, two U.S. officials say, that Davis stopped at an A.T.M. and possibly drew the attention of two Pakistani men on a motorcycle.
Davis has told the police in Lahore that the two men were attempting to rob him when he fired several rounds from his Glock handgun, hitting them both. The police report says that Davis claimed one of the men had a gun cocked at him. Davis fired multiple rounds from inside his car, killing one man in the street, while the second died later from his injuries.
Davis then called for help from several other CIA security officers who shared his Lahore safehouse, according to a U.S. official and the intelligence consultant. As they arrived near the intersection, they accidentally hit a Pakistani motorcyclist. The motorcyclist later died of his injuries. Davis' colleagues were unable to get to Davis before the police arrested him. They left the scene and returned to their safehouse.
Within hours, they had destroyed all government documents at the safehouse, abandoned it, and retreated to the U.S. consulate for safety. Both have since returned to the U.S., according to a senior U.S. official briefed on the case.
The Pakistani government is under significant public pressure to prosecute Davis. The incident has set off massive anti-American protests and calls for Davis to be executed for the murders.
"Our first fear is that the sentiment of the street in Pakistan is, 'Let's take him and hang him,'" said a current senior U.S. official.
Reporting by ABC News' Matthew Cole.