US: Ex-prosecutor stepped over the line in Detroit terror trial

[maddezmom]

Source: AP

US: Ex-prosecutor stepped over the line in Detroit terror trial



DETROIT -- A former federal prosecutor and an ex-State Department investigator wanted so badly to win convictions in the nation's first major terrorism trial after the Sept. 11 attacks that they broke the law themselves, a government attorney said Tuesday.


Eileen Gleason delivered the government's closing argument in federal court in Detroit in the case against Richard Convertino and Harry Smith III, who have pleaded not guilty to charges of obstruction of justice, making false declarations before a court and conspiracy.

"They wanted to win that case too much to risk losing it by playing by the rules," Gleason said.

"They crossed over the line from upholding the law to violating it."

The defense was expected to deliver its closing statement later Tuesday

Read more: http://www.woodtv.com/global/story.asp?s=7285122

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Prosecutor: Convertino conspired with witness to tell lies

Paul Egan / The Detroit News
DETROIT -- Former federal prosecutor Richard Convertino conspired with a witness to tell lies at a high-profile Detroit terrorism trial because the hard-charging, ambitious man was determined to win the case regardless of the rules, jurors in Convertino's criminal trial were told today.

Eileen Gleason, an attorney with the public integrity section of the U.S. Justice Department in Washington, D.C., told jurors in her closing argument that Convertino had done such a good job of coaching former State Department security officer Harry "Ray" Smith for his testimony in the 2003 terror trial that "this was choreography worthy of 'Dancing with the Stars,'" Gleason said.

Convertino, 46, and Smith, 51, are charged with conspiracy, obstruction of justice and false statements in connection with the terror trial Convertino prosecuted in 2003.

At the trial, Convertino alleged a drawing found in the defendants' Detroit apartment was a terrorist casing sketch of the Queen Alia Military Hospital in Amman, Jordan.

more:http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20071030/UPDATE/710300428

[annabanana]

1. One more rec...? This is an amazing story....n/t