Wednesday, September 1, 2004
U.S., citing prosecutorial misconduct, asks judge to scuttle terror convictions
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
WASHINGTON
The Justice Department has asked a judge to throw out the convictions of a suspected terror cell in Detroit because of prosecutorial misconduct, reversing course in a case that the Bush administration once hailed as a major victory in the war on terrorism, legal sources said yesterday.
The department told Judge Gerald Rosen of U.S. District Court that it supports the Detroit defendants' request for a new trial and would no longer pursue charges of material support of terrorism. That means that the defendants at most would face only fraud charges at a new trial, the legal sources said.
The department's decision came after a monthslong independent investigation found several pieces of evidence that prosecutors failed to turn over to defense attorneys before the trial last year and exposed deep disputes within the government over the course of the case.
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