meta-roj

in today’s “you might be a terrorist” story, you might actually not be a terrorist, but that might not keep you out of detention and/or prison you unless the prosecutors change their minds and decide to do the right thing. this is the trial that went wrong – the one that you’re not hearing about – because the kobe trial is more fun.

U.S. Asks Judge to Dismiss Terrorism Convictions [reuters, september 1, 2004]

The U.S. Justice Department has asked a federal judge in Detroit to toss out the convictions of three Middle Eastern men caught in a roundup of hundreds of Arab immigrants after the Sept. 11 attacks and charged with supporting terrorism and document fraud.

you may remember the arrest and prosecution of this “detroit terror cell” in the days and months following september 11. scooped up in the sweeping detentions of arab-americans, this group of people was captured on september 17th. lauded as an early victory in the war on terrorism (inasmuch as you can actually have a war on a method), we nailed the terrorists in our midst. we locked them up and even had a “star witness” willing to help make the case. by june of 2003, the department of justice had secured convictions for three of the four defendants, on charges ranging from “conspiracy to provide material support for terrorism” to “document fraud.”

the problem is that the case was vapor.

and in the process, our department of justice, the federal agency tasked with enforcing the laws of the united states of america, compromised those laws and legal principles in its quest for political victories, and at the cost of human lives.

sure, that’s a pretty bold statement from a lowly citizen of this country, but the ashcroft justice department has done more damage to this country than a dozen planes could do to a dozen skyscrapers. dead people are tragic, the economic damage is huge, but the survivors go on, damage is fixed. it’s simply much more difficult to restore principles and ideals that have been violated. the united states was held up in the world as a beacon of justice and principle. now, we know better.

making hay

attorney general john ashcroft stepped up to the lectern to proclaim success and progress in the war on terror, violating the judge’s gag order for the case, and violating standards he is, supposedly, charged with enforcing.

Ashcroft mouths off, ignores gag order [capitol hill blue, april 19, 2004]

Justice Department spokeswoman Barbara Comstock said Friday that Ashcroft made the comments during a wide-ranging news conference and “certainly had no intent to contravene the judge’s wishes regarding publicity.”

which explains why the name of the witness, with commentary, is available here on the doj website in the “prepared remarks” of a press conference. worse, the prepared remarks have a note, “The Attorney General often deviates from prepared remarks.” ashcroft does deviate a bit in this case, and you can see some of that deviation over at the cnn transcript of the event.

His testimony has been of value, substantial value in that respect. Such cooperation is a critical tool in our war against terrorism, and those who may be contemplating terrorist activity are aware of the fact that there are others who had been involved in the terrorist network who are cooperating and providing information.

emphasized above, the “deviation” from the prepared statement. of course hmimssa’s testimony was of substantial value – it’s about all they had to make terrorism charges stick. but, stick they did, and we apparently got what might be called “wrongful convictions” out of the detroit sleeper cell case.

it turns out that the government’s “star witness” is a self-described scam artist. that evidence was withheld from the defense, and that misleading testimony was solicited from witnesses in order to score the convictions.

withholding evidence

a few months ago, there was news related to this case, when word got out that las vegas had been cased by terrorists.

DOJ Superiors Accused of Hindering Terror Prosecutors [ap, via new york lawyer, august 10, 2004

Behind the scenes of the first major terror trial after Sept. 11, frontline prosecutors complained bitterly they had not received needed help from the Justice Department and were prevented from introducing some of their most dramatic evidence in the courtroom, internal memos show.

so just a month ago, there was news about withholding evidence that would strengthen the case against these so-called terrorists, but the statement filed by the department of justice shows the flip side:

Judge throws out terror convictions [ap via usa today, september 1, 2004]

“In its best light, the record would show that the prosecution committed a pattern of mistakes and oversights that deprived the defendants of discoverable evidence (including impeachment material) and created a record filled with misleading inferences that such material did not exist,” Justice told the court.

…

“Misleading testimony was elicited that created the false impression that there was initial consensus that the drawing depicted the Queen Alia Hospital and that photos could not be taken due to diplomatic red tape,” Justice conceded.

these are the weapons our great justice department brings to bear againt the terrible threat of international terrorism? that’s the best we can do?

well, that leaves us with….

no reasonable prospect of winning

Excerpts from Justice Department’s 60-page memo [detroit free press, september 1, 2004]

As fully explained in the detailed memorandum of law, the government has concluded that there is no reasonable possibility that it could endure further hearings and emerge with the convictions intact. In its best light, the record would show that the prosecution committed a pattern of mistakes and oversights that deprived the defendants of discoverable evidence (including impeachment material) and created a record filled with misleading inferences that such material did not exist. Accordingly, the government believes that it should not prolong the resolution of this matter pursuing hearings it has no reasonable prospect of winning.

which, come to think of it, is something that the president mentioned recently too, albeit in a broader context.

fortunately, since i started preparing this post, it seems that the media has picked up on the story to some extent. the official word is that the terror convictions are thrown out (when i began this, the news was that the department of justice had requested that they be thrown out), and the so-called detroit sleeper cell terrorists will be prosecuted for document fraud instead.

so, do i feel safer now? either there was a real detroit sleeper cell planning terrorist attacks, and my justice department screwed up the prosecution so badly that they’ll be out on the streets in a few years, or there wasn’t a real detroit sleeper cell, in which case my justice department spun its wheels trying to make terrorist charges stick where no terrorists exist.

no, i do not feel safer now.