DOJ Screwing Up Terror Case?

[Annie]

What is this? Wonder why?

YAHOO!

AP: Superiors Hindered Terror Prosecutors

51 minutes ago

By JOHN SOLOMON, Associated Press Writer

WASHINGTON - 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 (news - web sites) and were prevented from introducing some of their most dramatic evidence in the courtroom, internal memos show.

As a result, jurors in the trial of four men accused of operating a terror cell in Detroit never heard testimony from an Osama bin Laden (news - web sites) lieutenant or saw video footage of European operatives casing U.S. landmarks. Prosecutors believed both would have connected the defendants to al-Qaida.

The department's terrorism unit "provided no help of any kind in this prosecution," the U.S. Attorney's office in Detroit wrote in one memo, claiming that superiors in Washington hindered the case and sent a lawyer who chose to play basketball rather than assist prosecutors at trial.

The Detroit case ended last summer with the convictions, hailed by the Bush administration, of three men who were accused of operating a sleeper terror cell that possessed plans for attacks around the world.

A fourth defendant was acquitted, however, and only two of the four men originally arrested were convicted of terrorism charges. Now the convictions are in jeopardy because of an internal investigation into allegations that defense lawyers were denied evidence that could have helped them.