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Search results for Gerald Rosen OR Convertino: 10 matches
2004-09-03 PROSECUTORIAL MISCONDUCT OR WHISTLEBLOWER RETALIATION
The New York Times reports that a federal judge has throw out terrorism convictions of two Muslim immigrants that had been hailed by Attorney General John Ashcroft and the Justice Department as a major victory in the war on terror. Judge Gerald Rosen of the Federal District Court in Detroit threw out the convictions with the agreement of prosecutors, citing misconduct by a former prosecutor in the case, Richard Convertino. Rosen said Convertino had ignored and avoided evidence that undermined the defendants' guilt. Convertino, who is currently being investigated for misconduct, denies that he withheld significant evidence and says that he is being punished for cooperating with a Congressional inquiry into the nation's antiterrorism strategy. The defendants are being re-tried on document fraud charges unrelated to terrorism.
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2004-09-02 FOLLOWUP ON COLLAPSED DETROIT TERROR CASE.
Several major newspapers today published followup stories on the collapse this week of a Detroit terrorism case in which the government asked a judge to dismiss terrorism charges against two defendants and retry them for document fraud. The Detroit Free Press quoted experts who said Attorney General John Ashcroft and the Justice Department deserve much of the blame for the collapse of the case. The Los Angeles Times reported that the Justice Department conceded Wednesday that in its zeal to win convictions in a terrorism case in Detroit last year, prosecutors engaged in "a pattern of mistakes and oversights" that may constitute criminal misconduct.
The Washington Post reported that the Justice Department released a harshly critical review yesterday that shows that prosecutors failed to turn over dozens of pieces of evidence to defense attorneys in the first major terrorism trial after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks and chronicles "a pattern of mistakes and oversights" so egregious that the government has agreed to abandon the terrorism portion of the case altogether. The New York Times reported that after nine months of investigation, federal prosecutors compiled a wealth of evidence that they said fatally undermined every aspect of their terror case. They also sharply rebuked the prosecutor who led the case, Richard G. Convertino, suggesting he knowingly withheld evidence that he was obligated to share with defense lawyers.
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2004-09-01 JUSTICE DEPARTMENT ASKS JUDGE TO THROW OUT TERROR CONVICTIONS.
The Justice Department is asking a judge to throw out the convictions of a suspected terror cell in Detroit because of prosecutorial misconduct, a dramatic setback for the administration's war on terror on the eve of President Bush's re-election pitch at the GOP convention. In a late Tuesday night court filing, the department told U.S. District Judge Gerald Rosen it supports the Detroit defendants' request for a new trial and would no longer pursue terrorism charges against them. The defendants at most would only face fraud charges at a new trial. The Justice Department is "concurring in the defendants' motions for a new trial" and asks the court to dismiss the first count of the original indictment charging the defendants with material support of terrorism, according to a summary of the government's filing that was obtained by The Associated Press through the court's electronic access system.
The Detroit News reported that the filing alleged prosecutors repeatedly withheld evidence, misled jurors and altered notes of interviews. As a result, FBI agents and prosecutors kept federal jurors from fairly assessing the evidence against Detroit terrorism suspects. Richard Convertino, the government's lead prosecutor, and Special Agent Michael Thomas, along with other officials, are the subject of an ongoing criminal investigation by the Public Integrity Section of the Justice Department. US News & World Report reported that officials have provided Convertino with documents from their internal review, and that he responded to their questions with "information that is at odds" with the evidence and testimony. Click here to link to the Justice Department's filing.
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2004-08-12 JUDGE ASKED TO FIND PROSECUTOR IN CONTEMPT FOR TALKING TO MEDIA.
Defense lawyers in a Detroit terrorism case have asked a judge to find the former lead prosecutor in contempt of court for repeatedly violating a gag order. U.S. District Judge Gerald Rosen temporarily lifted the gag order to allow the government and defense attorneys to respond to recent public statements by Assistant U.S. Attorney Richard Convertino, The Detroit Free Press reported. Rosen said in his order that Convertino "potentially" had violated the gag order. Convertino, whose conduct during the trial is the subject of a criminal investigation by the Justice Department, has made a flurry of public statements in recent days, some of which were televised, The Detroit News reported. He suggested during interviews that the Justice Department officials hindered the prosecution of the first terror case to go to trial following the September 11 attacks.
The defense team asked Rosen to hold a hearing in which Convertino would be required to explain his recent media interviews. Convertino, who has been removed from the case and is under investigation for possible misconduct in the case, recently accused the Justice Department of hindering the prosecution of four men accused of operating a terror cell in Detroit.
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2004-08-09 GRASSLEY CITES RETALIATION AGAINST FEDERAL ATTORNEY.
The Associated Press reported today that Sen. Charles Grassley (R-Iowa), chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, has written Attorney Gen. John Ashcroft and his deputies concerning the investigation of Assistant U.S. Attorney Richard Convertino that began shortly after he was subpoenaed to testify before Congress. The letters accuse Justice Department officials of investigating the prosecutor in reprisal for his cooperation with Congress. Assistant U.S. Attorney Richard Convertino, now detailed to Grassley's office, came under department investigation after he was asked to testify. Convertino had successfully prosecuted three terrorism trials. He has sued the department claiming that it interfered with the case and retaliated against him, but his attorney said that he had planned to testify narrowly and only about terror financing schemes.
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2004-07-06 JUDGE ADMITS TALKING TO FBI, REPORTER IN DETROIT TERROR CASE
The Associated Press reports that U.S. District Judge Gerald Rosen, who presided over the trial of four Detroit men accused of operating a terror cell, was interviewed June 19 by FBI agents investigating whether prosecutors in the case withheld evidence and leaked sensitive information. Rosen also acknowledged to the AP that he met with a reporter who later wrote about the case, citing "courthouse sources." Ironically, Rosen had imposed gag orders forbidding lawyers in the case to talk to the news media. The AP report is the latest in a series of strange twists in the Detroit case, which has included embarrassing revelations of prosecutorial misconduct and a flap over Attorney General Ashcroft's violation of a gag order.
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2004-02-18 DOJ WHISTLEBLOWER SUIT EXPOSES RIFTS IN WAR ON TERROR
A federal prosecutor in Detroit, Richard Convertino, has sued his bosses at the Justice Department -- including Attorney General John Ashcroft -- over what he says was a smear campaign against Convertino that resulted in the leak of a confidential informant's identity. Reports in The Washington Post, and Newsday say that Convertino alleges that DOJ was more concerned with its media image than with providing adequate support to terrorism prosecutors. According to The Post, Convertino claims that senior Justice officials "were concerned primarily with looking good in the war on terror," and retaliated against Convertino after he cooperated with a Senate inquiry.
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2003-12-31 DETROIT TERRORISM CASE IN TURMOIL.
The verdict in the nation's first terrorist trial after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks left both sides claiming victory: two men guilty of terrorism charges and two others cleared of them. But The Washington Post reports that several recent developments - including revelations that prosecutors may have withheld key exonerating evidence - have thrown the case into turmoil. U.S. District Judge Gerald E. Rosen is considering throwing out the convictions and starting over. Federal prosecutors acknowledged this month that they did not turn over at least two key pieces of evidence that defense lawyers said would have helped their cause. Rosen issued a rare public rebuke of Attorney General John D. Ashcroft for violating his gag order and exhibiting "a distressing lack of care" in his public statements about the case. The two chief prosecutors, unceremoniously removed from the "sleeper cell" case, have entered into a public spat with their bosses.
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2003-12-15 JUDGE SAYS PROSECUTORS SHOULD HAVE TURNED OVER DOCUMENTS IN TERROR CASE.
A U.S. District Court Judge in Detroit told Justice Department lawyers Friday that they should have given two documents to defense attorneys in a Detroit terrorism trial. But Judge Gerald Rosen said that his opinion on the matter is by no means a guarantee that he will order a new trial. The documents included a letter written Dec. 30, 2001, by a convicted drug dealer that raised questions about the credibility of a key government witness and the transcript of two interviews by the FBI with a former roommate of two of the defendants. Rosen ordered U.S. Attorney Jeffrey G. Collins and the FBI to conduct a thorough review of every document in the terrorism file and ensure that nothing was withheld from the defense that should have been turned over. The Detroit News reported that the judge repeatedly criticized the government for overreaching its authority by unilaterally deciding that the two documents shouldn't have been given to the defense.
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2003-12-11 FEDERAL PROSECUTORS ORDERED TO APPEAR BEFORE DETROIT JUDGE.
U.S. District Judge Gerald E. Rosen in Detroit has ordered FBI agents and federal prosecutors to appear Friday at an unusual hearing after the government acknowledged it failed to turn over to the defense a potentially significant piece of evidence in a terrorism-related case. A Dec. 30, 2001, letter from a notorious convicted drug dealer, Milton "Butch" Jones, raised questions about the government's key witness in the trial of four Metro Detroit men accused of forming an underground cell to support terrorism.
A federal official told The Detroit News on Wednesday that the Justice Department believes the two prosecutors in the trial were told by a superior to turn over the letter from Jones to the defense, but they didn't do so.
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