April 13 (Reuters) - Following are some facts about former "enemy combatant" Jose Padilla. * The 36-year-old American citizen is scheduled to go to trial Monday in federal court in Florida on charges that he aided Islamist extremists and conspired with them to murder, kidnap and maim people overseas. * His lawyers argued that 3 1/2 years of secret detention and interrogation by the U.S. military had left Padilla too mentally impaired to help his lawyers defend him in court. A U.S. District Judge ruled Padilla was mentally competent to stand trial, saying "This defendant clearly has the capacity to assist his attorneys." * Padilla has been in federal custody since May 2002, when he was arrested in Chicago upon his return from Egypt. * President George W. Bush ordered Padilla held in a military prison and his administration accused him of plotting to set off a radioactive bomb in the United States. Padilla was never charged with that, and while a challenge to Bush's authority to hold him without charge was pending in the Supreme Court, Padilla was indicted in Florida and transferred to civilian custody last year. * Padilla would face life in prison if convicted on the charges at his trial, which is expected to last four to six months.
