Posted on 02/17/2004 1:24:03 PM PST by george wythe
Prosecutor Accuses Justice Department Of "Gross Mismanagement"
A federal prosecutor in a major terrorism case in Detroit has taken the rare step of suing Attorney General John Ashcroft, alleging the Justice Department interfered with the case, compromised a confidential informant and exaggerated results in the war on terrorism.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Richard Convertino of Detroit accused the Justice Department of "gross mismanagement" of the war on terrorism in a lawsuit filed late Friday in federal court in Washington.
Justice officials said Tuesday they had not seen the suit and had no comment.
The suit is the latest twist in the Bush administration's first major post-Sept. 11 terrorism prosecution, which is now in danger of unraveling over allegations of prosecutorial misconduct.
Convertino came under internal Justice Department investigation last fall after providing information to a Senate committee about his concerns about the war on terror. His testimony came just months after he helped convict some members of an alleged terrorism cell in Detroit.
The government now admits it failed to turn over evidence during the trial that might have assisted the defense, including an allegation from an imprisoned drug gang leader who claimed the government's key witness made up his story.
Convertino is seeking damages under the Privacy Act, alleging he has been subjected to an internal investigation as retaliation for his cooperation with the Senate and that information from the internal probe was wrongly leaked to news media.
The lawsuit states Convertino first complained to his superiors more than a year ago about Justice's interference in the Detroit terrorism trial, saying Washington supervisors "had continuously placed perception over reality to the serious detriment of the war on terror."
The lawsuit includes excerpts of an e-mail from another prosecutor in the case that Convertino says "identified some of the gross mismanagement which was negatively impacting the ability of the United States to obtain convictions in a major terrorist case."
He's in a heap of trouble. Got transfered to work for Grassley in the Senate.
Very bizarre.
Not Ashcroft.
Thanks for the clarification. The article said the government, but it was not clear whether "the government" refered to Convertino or Ashcroft.
I'm glad you elaborated on this.
Case imperiled by infighting between FBI and prosecutorsEight months after Attorney General John Ashcroft hailed the government's partial victory in a trial against an accused terror cell based in Detroit, the convictions of three men are in doubt amid growing turmoil within the offices of the federal prosecutor and the FBI here.
In recent weeks, both the Justice Department and the FBI have begun inquiries into the handling of terrorism-related cases in the region.
The prosecutor in the most prominent case has been removed, and the head of the FBI's office in Detroit has been temporarily recalled to Washington. The developments were reported this week by The Detroit News.
The names of government informants have also been leaked to the news media. One informant, an Arab man in his 30's, said in a recent interview with The New York Times that the prosecutor's office had clashed with the FBI over how he was used, and that he feared for his life after his name had been leaked.
Officials said the FBI was investigating the handling of the informant and possible misconduct by an agent.
The main case brought by federal prosecutors involved four men accused of forming a terrorist cell and hatching a variety of plots.
The men had a crude sketch that prosecutors said matched a U.S. air base in Turkey used to patrol Iraq's no-flight zone, as well as videotape of the MGM Grand hotel in Las Vegas and The New York Times headquarters, and audiotapes advocating jihad. Two of the men were convicted in June of terrorism charges, and a third was convicted of document fraud. The fourth was acquitted.
But in the months since the trial ended, the government agencies involved with the case have been plagued by turmoil. In September, Richard Convertino, the assistant U.S. attorney who led the government's case, was removed from it and the Justice Department began an internal investigation into his conduct. The accusations against Convertino include that he reduced the sentences of informants without approval from more senior prosecutors and tried to get confidential information about a defense witness in the terror case from a pretrial services officer. Convertino said the accusations had no merit.
The details of the inquiry were leaked this month to The Detroit Free Press, and published along with the names of the informants.
New prosecutors conceded in a hearing last month that evidence had been withheld that should have been turned over to the defense, principally a letter from a cellmate of the government's star witness, suggesting that the witness had lied.
The federal judge handling the case, Gerald Rosen, said at the hearing that the new evidence "should have been turned over, there's no question in the court's mind."
Rosen has ordered a scouring of the case file. Sentencing has been delayed while he considers a defense motion for a new trial.
The judge also admonished Ashcroft last month for violating an order barring discussion of the case.
Convertino said in a telephone interview last week that fighting within the Justice Department and with the FBI threatened to undermine the case and had led the department to accuse him wrongly of misconduct. "The office is in disarray and it's rudderless," he said of the Justice Department's division in southeastern Michigan.
Convertino said the letter that was withheld, which also accused the Bush family of being drug dealers, was not credible and was written by a man facing capital murder charges and trying to make a deal with prosecutors. He also said that he took up the matter with Keith Corbett, his supervisor and co-counsel on the case, and that Corbett agreed the letter did not have to be given to the defense.
Corbett was also removed from the case.
Convertino contends that the internal investigation into his conduct is in retaliation for his testifying in September about terrorism issues before the Senate Finance Committee. He was removed from the case within days of being subpoenaed.
"I was very vocal internally during the investigative stage, during the pretrial and trial phases, with the lack of support and resources, the micromanaging by Washington, and the total lack of cooperation and intense territorial infighting within the department and with other agencies," Convertino said.
"They kept saying, in their words, that I was off the reservation," he said.
For months, Senator Charles Grassley, Republican of Iowa, who is chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, has been writing letters to Ashcroft seeking assurance that Convertino would not face retaliation because of his testimony.
Last week, Grassley said, "It's amazing that the very people within the Justice Department accusing this employee of unethical conduct appear themselves to be committing unethical acts."
Convertino remains on the Justice Department's payroll, but is temporarily working as a consultant on terrorism financing for the Senate Finance Committee.
I think this is the best summary: Wash Times
Associated Press
Detroit — The Justice Department is investigating possible misconduct by the lead prosecutor in the nation's first major post-Sept. 11 terrorism trial, according to a published report.
U.S. Attorney Jeffrey Collins requested the investigation in November after discovering possible ethical violations involving Assistant U.S. Attorney Richard Convertino, the Detroit Free Press reported Saturday, citing unnamed sources.
What we have here is a renal output competition.
February 5, 2004
The department is also investigating the Detroit FBI office and how it handles confidential informants. The director has been temporarily reassigned to FBI headquarters pending completion of the probe
One of Convertino's informants, Marwan Farhat, accused an agent last month of asking him to break the law by stealing terrorism suspects' mail. Farhat said the agent also failed to make good on a pledge to give him 25 percent of any money seized from terror suspects he identified.
Questions cloud terror case (continued)
The department declined Friday to discuss the situation in Detroit or new disclosures: a claim by a federal informant that FBI agents asked him to break the law to collect evidence against terror suspects and the recall of Detroit FBI chief Willie Hulon to Washington pending a review of his conduct
U.S. Attorney Jeffrey Collins requested the investigation in November after discovering possible ethical violations involving Assistant U.S. Attorney Richard Convertino, the Detroit Free Press reported Saturday, citing sources it did not name.
The allegations include withholding evidence from defense attorneys and trying to convince a court employee to get confidential information about a prisoner, the newspaper said.
Convertino said Collins is trying to destroy his reputation and career.
"This is so untrue, one-sided and about as low as it gets," Convertino said.
The case, in which Moroccan immigrants Karim Koubriti and Abdel-Ilah Elmardoudi were convicted last June of being part of a terror cell, was hailed as an early success in the Bush administration's war on terror. But the case came in danger of unraveling last month after revelations that government lawyers failed to turn over certain information to the defense.
U.S. District Judge Gerald Rosen held a hearing on the issue last month and is deciding whether to throw out the convictions.
A Justice Department spokesman said Saturday he couldn't confirm or deny whether an investigation was taking place. Collins has declined to comment.
The newspaper said Collins told the Justice Department that Convertino tried to persuade a pretrial services employee at U.S. District Court to dig up damaging confidential information about a federal prisoner; failed to inform another federal prosecutor before he approached a drug defendant to assist in the terrorism case; withheld evidence from defense lawyers; and failed to get approval before arranging plea deals and sentence reductions.
The inquiry is being conducted by the Justice Department's Office of Professional Responsibility, after Collins told the department about the possible violations, the newspaper reported.
Convertino's lawyer William Sullivan said, "Obviously, I can't comment on the existence of an OPR investigation. But to the extent such allegations exist, we categorically deny them as untrue and unsubstantiated."
http://www.modbee.com/24hour/nation/story/1122659p-7811655c.html
I hope the competition is being held indoors; otherwise the Chicago cold winds can create major havoc on the participants :-)
And that applies here how...?
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