playing interference in this case.
http://www.modbee.com/24hour/politics/story/1613161p-9287445c.htmlThe legal sources are familiar with what the court has been told about the problems with the case and about the government's plans. They would speak only on condition of anonymity because the judge in the Detroit case has imposed a gag order. They said the department's filing with the court is harshly critical of Assistant U.S. Attorney Richard Convertino, the lead prosecutor in the case.
Convertino has been under investigation for months and filed a whistle-blower lawsuit against Attorney General John Ashcroft earlier this year. In an interview with The Associated Press, Convertino accused Justice Department superiors of thwarting his efforts to introduce some evidence against the defendants at trial.
http://www.freep.com/news/locway/terror18_20040218.htmDetroit terror prosecutor is suing Ashcroft
He claims the Justice Department has retaliated for his complaints
February 18, 2004
BY SHANNON MCCAFFREY
FREE PRESS WASHINGTON STAFF
WASHINGTON -- The federal prosecutor who won the government's first terrorism convictions in the aftermath of the Sept. 11 attacks has filed a lawsuit against Attorney General John Ashcroft, accusing the Justice Department of "gross mismanagement" in the war on terrorism.
The highly unusual complaint was filed in U.S. District Court in Washington, D.C., by Richard Convertino, former lead prosecutor in the Detroit terrorism case. Convertino is facing allegations of prosecutorial misconduct in the terror case for failing to turn over a document to the defense until long after the trial had ended.
Convertino claims the Justice Department is retaliating against him because he has attacked its efforts in the war on terrorism and because he testified last year before the Senate Finance Committee, led by Sen. Charles Grassley, R-Iowa, a vocal critic of the department.
In his lawsuit, Convertino said the Justice Department has exaggerated its success fighting terrorism. He said heavy-handed officials at Justice Department headquarters in Washington have hindered prosecutors in the field. In the three convictions in the Detroit terrorism case -- frequently praised by Ashcroft as a shining success in his department's war on terrorism -- Convertino said the government failed to provide the needed staff and support in the case.
http://apnews.myway.com/article/20040808/D84BAK580.htmlSuperiors Hindered Terror Prosecutors
WASHINGTON (AP) - Prosecutors in the first major terror trial after Sept. 11 were hindered by superiors from presenting some of their most powerful evidence, including testimony from an al-Qaida leader and video footage showing Osama bin Laden's European operatives casing American landmarks, Justice Department memos show. The department's terrorism unit "provided no help of any kind in this prosecution," the U.S. Attorney's office in Detroit wrote in one of the memos, which detail bitter divisions between front-line prosecutors and their superiors in Washington. The Detroit case ended last summer with the convictions, hailed by the Bush administration, of three men who were accused of operating a sleeper terror cell that possessed plans for attacks around the world.
A fourth defendant was acquitted, however, and only two of the four men originally arrested were convicted of terrorism charges. Now the convictions are in jeopardy because of an internal investigation into allegations that defense lawyers were denied evidence that could have helped them. Whatever the outcome, internal documents obtained by The Associated Press and more than three dozen interviews with current and former officials detail how the differences between Washington and the field office kept important evidence from being shown to jurors.
"We were butting heads vigorously with narrow-shouldered bureaucrats in Washington," Assistant U.S. Attorney Richard Convertino told AP in an interview. He is the lead Detroit prosecutor who is now under investigation in Washington.
"There was a series of evidence, pieces of evidence, that we wanted to get into our trial that we were unable to do. Things that would have strengthened the case immeasurably, and made the case much stronger, exponentially," Convertino said.
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