Terror Convictions Jeopardized
Federal prosecutors turn over to defense documents raising serious questions in case
by David Shepardson
The Detroit News
DETROIT — Federal prosecutors turned over documents to defense lawyers in the Detroit terrorism case Tuesday that raise serious questions about the conduct of the former lead prosecutor and puts the case in jeopardy of being thrown out.
The hundreds of pages of materials, stored on a CD-ROM, include about 100 separate items, including e-mails, reports and photographs uncovered during a court-ordered six-month review.
The documents disclosed the names and interviews of some witnesses who had never been identified to defense lawyers, people familiar with the case said.
U.S. District Judge Gerald E. Rosen gave defense lawyers until Sept. 1 to use the materials to bolster their claims that the defendants did not receive a fair trial.
Rosen also issued an order barring federal prosecutors and defense lawyers from discussing those documents.
Three men were arrested Sept. 17, 2001, at a southwest Detroit apartment after federal agents sought a man high on the FBI’s terror watch list. They found the men with phony IDs and expired airport ID badges.
The 2003 convictions in the first terror trial after the September 11 attacks were touted by the Bush administration as a significant victory in the war on terror. The bulk of the material is documents that defense lawyers should have received before or during the three-month trial.
Some of the material deals with a key witness, Youssef Hmimssa, while other documents refer to a controversial piece of evidence in the case — a day planner that had cryptic drawings of alleged terror targets in Jordan and Turkey, people familiar with the case said.
Defense lawyers said the crude drawings in the planner were just doodles, but the government insisted they were proof of a terror plot.
Some of the material is highly classified and has not been turned over by Rosen because the defense lawyers haven’t received security clearances.
The government review was ordered by Rosen on Dec. 12, following the disclosure that government prosecutors had failed to turn over an FBI summary of a witness interview and a letter from a convicted drug dealer.
The review ended nearly 13 months after two North African immigrants, Karim Koubriti and Abdel-Ilah Elmardoudi, were convicted of providing material support or resources to terrorists. A third man was convicted of document fraud while a fourth man was freed.
Defense lawyers will get another batch of documents of FBI interviews conducted since the trial ended. The lawyers are to get the documents by Aug. 1.
Some of the interviews are part of an ongoing, separate criminal investigation into the conduct of the former lead prosecutor, Richard G. Convertino, who was removed from the case Sept. 9.
Convertino, who is temporarily working for a U.S. Senate committee, filed a lawsuit against U.S. Attorney General John Ashcroft, U.S. Attorney Jeffrey G. Collins and other federal prosecutors, charging them with botching the war on terrorism and leaking the results of an internal disciplinary probe.
No ruling on a new trial will come until at least after Sept. 15.
A court order Tuesday disclosed the existence of a secret order jointly issued by Rosen and U.S. District Judge Julian Abele Cook Jr. That ruling will allow defense lawyers to review the July 1, 2003, sentencing of Marwan Farhat, a longtime FBI confidential informant and convicted drug dealer. Farhat was used by Convertino to translate some documents in the case.
In a Jan. 21 letter written before he left the country, Farhat said he had spied on 242 Muslims and broken the law at the FBI’s request in assisting investigations.
The investigators have interviewed all of the defense lawyers in the Detroit terrorism case, federal prosecutors and court personnel.
Federal prosecutors turn over to defense documents raising serious questions in case
by David Shepardson
The Detroit News
DETROIT — Federal prosecutors turned over documents to defense lawyers in the Detroit terrorism case Tuesday that raise serious questions about the conduct of the former lead prosecutor and puts the case in jeopardy of being thrown out.
The hundreds of pages of materials, stored on a CD-ROM, include about 100 separate items, including e-mails, reports and photographs uncovered during a court-ordered six-month review.
The documents disclosed the names and interviews of some witnesses who had never been identified to defense lawyers, people familiar with the case said.
U.S. District Judge Gerald E. Rosen gave defense lawyers until Sept. 1 to use the materials to bolster their claims that the defendants did not receive a fair trial.
Rosen also issued an order barring federal prosecutors and defense lawyers from discussing those documents.
Three men were arrested Sept. 17, 2001, at a southwest Detroit apartment after federal agents sought a man high on the FBI’s terror watch list. They found the men with phony IDs and expired airport ID badges.
The 2003 convictions in the first terror trial after the September 11 attacks were touted by the Bush administration as a significant victory in the war on terror. The bulk of the material is documents that defense lawyers should have received before or during the three-month trial.
Some of the material deals with a key witness, Youssef Hmimssa, while other documents refer to a controversial piece of evidence in the case — a day planner that had cryptic drawings of alleged terror targets in Jordan and Turkey, people familiar with the case said.
Defense lawyers said the crude drawings in the planner were just doodles, but the government insisted they were proof of a terror plot.
Some of the material is highly classified and has not been turned over by Rosen because the defense lawyers haven’t received security clearances.
The government review was ordered by Rosen on Dec. 12, following the disclosure that government prosecutors had failed to turn over an FBI summary of a witness interview and a letter from a convicted drug dealer.
The review ended nearly 13 months after two North African immigrants, Karim Koubriti and Abdel-Ilah Elmardoudi, were convicted of providing material support or resources to terrorists. A third man was convicted of document fraud while a fourth man was freed.
Defense lawyers will get another batch of documents of FBI interviews conducted since the trial ended. The lawyers are to get the documents by Aug. 1.
Some of the interviews are part of an ongoing, separate criminal investigation into the conduct of the former lead prosecutor, Richard G. Convertino, who was removed from the case Sept. 9.
Convertino, who is temporarily working for a U.S. Senate committee, filed a lawsuit against U.S. Attorney General John Ashcroft, U.S. Attorney Jeffrey G. Collins and other federal prosecutors, charging them with botching the war on terrorism and leaking the results of an internal disciplinary probe.
No ruling on a new trial will come until at least after Sept. 15.
A court order Tuesday disclosed the existence of a secret order jointly issued by Rosen and U.S. District Judge Julian Abele Cook Jr. That ruling will allow defense lawyers to review the July 1, 2003, sentencing of Marwan Farhat, a longtime FBI confidential informant and convicted drug dealer. Farhat was used by Convertino to translate some documents in the case.
In a Jan. 21 letter written before he left the country, Farhat said he had spied on 242 Muslims and broken the law at the FBI’s request in assisting investigations.
The investigators have interviewed all of the defense lawyers in the Detroit terrorism case, federal prosecutors and court personnel.
