DETROIT - Acting at the request of prosecutors, a federal judge on Thursday threw out the terrorism charges against two men convicted last year in a case once hailed by the Bush administration as a major victory in the war on terror…
The judge’s decision came after the Justice Department (news - web sites) admitted widespread prosecutorial misconduct in the case and asked the judge to dismiss the terrorism charges against two men accused of being part of a Detroit terror cell…
“It is an inescapable conclusion that the defendants’ due process, confrontation and fair trial rights were violated,” Rosen wrote Thursday. “There is at least a reasonable probability that the jury’s verdict would have been different had constitutional standards been met.”
Well, it is about time that the many innocent victims of misconduct by government officials after 9/11 happened are starting to be correctly given back their freedom, and proven to be innocent of any wrongdoing.
One day, mark my words, the US government will be forced to admit that they engaged in tactics which violated the rights of many folks after 9/11.
Too bad Bush and his pals can’t and won’t have their rights taken away so that they would have a better respect for all people but life is not fair. If life was fair, Gore would be in the White House, and Bush would still be in Texas. However, in only a few short months, we can all say, BYE, BYE BUSH! Hello, President Kerry! Then life can start to get back to normal again, and the nightmare of these past 4 years can come to an end.
Must be why the latest prosecution against those involved in Abu Ghraib resulted in only a 60 day sentence. Must have been lack of proof too. You will spare me any self-righteous outrage the soldier got only 60 days when we had to completely release this person due to lack of evidence. I accept that in a system such as ours justice is never perfect. I suggest everyone else trust in the system and do the same as well.
The judge set aside the convictions and the prosecutors requested and got a dismissal of charges because of government misconduct. That’s a far, far cry from saying the defendants are innocent. And there was evidence, but much of it was questionable as it related to al Qaeda ties. On the other hand, the feds were also barred by the judge from connecting, by means of a good witness, one of the suspects to another person very reasonably believed to be connected to al Qaeda. And the reason for that was that they had released that person and so weren’t allowed to “try” him in the other proceeding, so to speak. And the probable reason for the release of the person very reasonably thought to have al Qaeda connections was that the feds wanted to protect sources.
But the feds or the cops (depending on the circumstances) caught those guys with fake passports, wads of cash, and other incriminating evidence.