nyt: Ex-Prosecutor Accused of Concealing Evidence in Terror Case

[Tiggeroshii]

By ERIC LICHTBLAU
Published: March 29, 2006
WASHINGTON, March 29 — A grand jury charged today that a former federal prosecutor in Detroit who led one of the Justice Department's biggest terrorism investigations concealed critical evidence in the case in an effort to bolster the government's theory that a group of local Muslim men were plotting an attack.

The prosecutor, Richard G. Convertino, and a State Department employee who served as a chief government witness were each indicted on charges of conspiracy and obstruction of justice. The grand jury charged that they had conspired to conceal evidence from the jury about photographs of an American military hospital in Jordan that was the supposed target of a terrorist plot concocted by the Detroit defendants.

Mr. Convertino, once a rising star at the Justice Department who fell out of favor with supervisors in Washington, denied that he had ever withheld evidence, and he pledged that he would be vindicated. "These charges are clearly vindictive and retaliatory, and it's an effort to discredit and smear someone who tried to expose the government's mismanagement of the war on terrorism," he said in a telephone interview.


http://www.nytimes.com/2006/03/29/national/29cnd-prosecutor.html?hp&ex=1143694800&en=d62b75b90c87e7af&ei=5094&partner=homepage

[BeyondThePale]

1. BushCo. = cheaters & liars

[badgervan]

4. More "Family Values"?

As a political party, I have to say that the Republicans have no honor. Hypocrites, every damn one of 'em.

[MadMaddie]

2. Sheer criminality and incompetence to win at all costs...

this is why the * cabal war on terror is an utter failure.....

[Dancing_Dave]

3. Yay!

We need a lot more cases like this, especially in Washington and New York! There were many who concealed or destroyed evidence and obstructed justice after 9/11!!

[stillcool]

5. Patsy?...

[ConcernedCanuk]

6. War on "terror" appears to be more like a war on Muslims methinks . . .

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.
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From the posted Article:

After four Muslim men were arrested days after the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, in a dilapidated Detroit apartment, federal authorities charged that they were part of a "sleeper" terrorist cell plotting attacks against Americans overseas.

Two of the men were convicted on terrorism charges after a high-profile trial in 2003, with Mr. Convertino as the lead prosecutor. But the case soon began to unravel amid allegations of concealed evidence and government misconduct. The Justice Department ultimately repudiated its own case, leading to the dismissal of all terrorism charges against the men in 2004.

"I can't recall a case like this in recent memory where you have not only the collapse of the prosecution's entire case, but now the prosecutor himself indicted,
"The government has made clear it's going to do everything it can to go after terrorism, but here you have a case where it appears that hubris might have intoxicated the prosecutor, and he might have taken one step over the line," Mr. Levin said.

________________________________________________________________________

ONE step over the line??

what the heck would TWO steps be?

OH

Invading and destabilizing a whole country

That would fit . .

(sigh)