Disir
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- Sep 30, 2011
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WASHINGTON—Lawyers for self-professed Sept. 11 plotter Khalid Sheikh Mohammed on Wednesday said the military judge overseeing his case may have colluded with prosecutors to secretly destroy evidence critical to the defense.
“The defense was in fact misled as a result of these actions by the military judge and the current prosecution team,” Maj. Derek Poteet, a Marine Corps lawyer assigned to represent Mr. Mohammed, told reporters in a telephone briefing. The damage was so severe, he said, that defense lawyers filed a 27-page motion seeking to halt the proceedings and disqualify both the military judge, Col. James Pohl, and the prosecution team led by Brig. Gen. Mark Martins.
Maj. Poteet said strict secrecy rules for military commission proceedings at Guantanamo Bay prevented him from describing the evidence. The motion was filed under seal, and it will be reviewed by authorities who may release the document or redacted portions of it at a later date.
Asked if the matter involved secret overseas prisons formerly run by the Central Intelligence Agency, defense lawyers said they weren’t permitted to respond. “That is not something we can speak to,” defense attorney David Nevin said.
Gen. Martins in an email said he couldn’t comment on the defense motion, which hasn’t been publicly released. A Defense Department spokesman, Cmdr. Gary Ross, said that Col. Pohl was unavailable and that military judges, as a matter of policy, do not comment on pending legal matters.
Critical Evidence May Have Been Destroyed, Sheikh Mohammed Lawyers Say
Why destroy the evidence again?
“The defense was in fact misled as a result of these actions by the military judge and the current prosecution team,” Maj. Derek Poteet, a Marine Corps lawyer assigned to represent Mr. Mohammed, told reporters in a telephone briefing. The damage was so severe, he said, that defense lawyers filed a 27-page motion seeking to halt the proceedings and disqualify both the military judge, Col. James Pohl, and the prosecution team led by Brig. Gen. Mark Martins.
Maj. Poteet said strict secrecy rules for military commission proceedings at Guantanamo Bay prevented him from describing the evidence. The motion was filed under seal, and it will be reviewed by authorities who may release the document or redacted portions of it at a later date.
Asked if the matter involved secret overseas prisons formerly run by the Central Intelligence Agency, defense lawyers said they weren’t permitted to respond. “That is not something we can speak to,” defense attorney David Nevin said.
Gen. Martins in an email said he couldn’t comment on the defense motion, which hasn’t been publicly released. A Defense Department spokesman, Cmdr. Gary Ross, said that Col. Pohl was unavailable and that military judges, as a matter of policy, do not comment on pending legal matters.
Critical Evidence May Have Been Destroyed, Sheikh Mohammed Lawyers Say
Why destroy the evidence again?
