Judge rejects bail for Lodi men

From the San Francisco Chronicle:

Sacramento -- A federal judge ordered a Lodi father and son charged Tuesday with lying to the FBI to remain jailed after refusing to consider whether they should be able to post bail, but he didn't rule out attorneys fighting for the men's release in the future.

Hamid Hayat, 22, and Umer Hayat, 47, are charged with lying about Hamid Hayat's alleged participation in a terror training camp in Pakistan. Their attorneys say that Hamid Hayat never attended the camp and that the two men have no connection to terrorism, but U.S. District Judge Dale Drozd said Tuesday that the case against them had not changed enough to warrant reconsidering another judge's earlier decision to withhold bail.

Drozd said defense attorneys might be able to argue for bail if they could show that the Hayats' ability to pay it had changed significantly. The judge said any potential bail would have to be extremely high to ensure the men appeared at their trial, which is scheduled for October at the earliest.

"This is not a half a million dollar bail case," the judge said. Citing the gravity of the allegations and evidence that the Hayats have a home and relatives in Pakistan, he said, "This is one of the most serious flight risk cases that has been presented to me in my eight years here."

Defense attorneys said that the Hayats and their relatives were willing to use property worth as much as $600,000 as collateral and that other supporters had indicated they were willing to help.

Drozd ruled after a lengthy hearing that had been continued from Monday. Assistant U.S. Attorney S. Robert Tice-Raskin called the Hayats dangerous men who "certainly would not be strangers in a strange land in Pakistan."...