As was said in Through The Looking Glass: "What matters is who rules. That's all."
Inquiries Begun Into Handling of Detroit Terror Cases
January 29, 2004
By DANNY HAKIM
DETROIT, Jan. 28 - Eight 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 F.B.I.
here.
In recent weeks, both the Justice Department and the
Federal Bureau of Investigation 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 F.B.I.'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 F.B.I. over how he
was used and that he feared for his life after his name had
been leaked. Officials said the F.B.I. 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 an
American airbase in Turkey used to patrol Iraq's no-fly
zone, as well as videotape of the MGM Grand in Las Vegas
and The New York Times headquarters, and audiotapes
advocating jihad. Two of the men were convicted last 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 racked by
turmoil.
In September, Richard G. Convertino, the assistant United
States 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 Mr.
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. Mr. 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 E. Rosen, said
at the hearing that the new evidence "should have been
turned over, there's no question in the court's mind."
Judge 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 Mr. Ashcroft last month for
violating an order barring discussion of the case.
Mr. Convertino said in a telephone interview last week that
fighting within the Justice Department and with the F.B.I.
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 division in southeastern
Michigan.
Mr. 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 Mr. Corbett
agreed the letter did not have to be given to the defense.
Mr. Corbett was also removed from the case.
Mr. 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,"
Mr. Convertino said. "They kept saying, in their words,
that I was off the reservation."
For months, Senator Charles E. Grassley, the Iowa
Republican who is chairman of the Senate Finance Committee,
has been writing letters to Mr. Ashcroft seeking assurance
that Mr. Convertino would not face retaliation because of
his testimony.
Last week, Mr. 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."
Mr. Convertino remains on the Justice Department's payroll,
but is temporarily working as a consultant on terrorism
financing for the Senate Finance Committee.
Neither the Justice Department nor the office of Jeffrey G.
Collins, the United States attorney for the Eastern
District of Michigan, would say if it was investigating how
an active internal inquiry, and the name of an informant,
had been leaked or comment on any aspect of the case.
Releasing information on active Justice Department
inquiries violates the department's internal policies and
federal regulations.
Lawyers for the men convicted in the case say the evidence
that was withheld could have helped exonerate their
clients.
"I think there were a lot of questionable things done in
the case by the prosecution," said Leroy Soles, a lawyer
for one of the men.
The informant who spoke to The New York Times said he was
told that his identity would not be disclosed.
"I've slept in my truck two nights in a row," he said. "I'm
afraid for my life. They promised that my identity would
not be exposed. I wish it was a dream."
The informant has since fled the country.
James Thomas,
another defense lawyer, said of the withheld evidence,
"Hopefully, with the government's search of the file, we'll
be able to show there are further things out there that
will show Mr. Convertino's misconduct."
But Joseph M. Finnigan, who retired last October after more
than three decades at the F.B.I. and the last 16 as the
head of the organized-crime unit in Detroit, said of Mr.
Convertino: "In my opinion he is a great prosecutor and a
man of integrity. It's obvious that somebody is out to get
him."
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/01/29/na...1033b260c0ad05
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