A former federal prosecutor's ambition led him to withhold evidence that could have helped the defense during the first major US terrorism trial after the Sept. 11 attacks, a government lawyer said at trial.
Richard Convertino had designs on a seat in the US Congress and broke the law while prosecuting four North African immigrants accused of operating a "sleeper" terrorist cell, Daniel Schwager told jurors in opening arguments at Convertino's trial on Wednesday.
"Winning the ... case was everything to defendant Convertino," Schwager said. "This case is about truth and lies."
William Sullivan, Convertino's lawyer, said his client and a co-defendant in the case, former State Department investigator Harry Smith III, were only trying to bust up a terrorist cell and should not be on trial.
"There was no reason to risk their careers or their lives on a tiny bit of evidence," Sullivan said.
Smith's lawyer, Thomas Cranmer, told the court that Smith had no motive to lie.
"He's a witness," Cranmer said. "No stake in the outcome of the case."
Convertino, 46, and Smith, 50, have pleaded not guilty to obstruction of justice, making false declarations before a court and conspiracy charges.
Convertino's only motive in the case was "to take the sleeper cell out," and "to make sure each and every one of you in this jury box was safe," Sullivan said.
For two years, Convertino led the government's case against the four accused of operating a terrorist cell. Two of the four, Karim Koubriti and Abdel-Ilah Elmardoudi, were convicted in 2003 of conspiring to provide material support and resources to terrorists, and Convertino won praise from the Bush administration for his successful convictions.
However, a federal judge overturned the verdicts at the Justice Department's request after prosecutors discovered that some documents that could have aided the defense during the trial were not turned over by the government as required.
Convertino was the lead prosecutor in the case, and Smith helped in the investigation and testified for the government at the trial. Koubriti, a Moroccan immigrant, sued Convertino, Smith and Michael Thomas, the lead FBI agent on the case, in August. That lawsuit is pending.
Archeologists in Peru on Thursday said they found the 5,000-year-old remains of a noblewoman at the sacred city of Caral, revealing the important role played by women in the oldest center of civilization in the Americas. “What has been discovered corresponds to a woman who apparently had elevated status, an elite woman,” archeologist David Palomino said. The mummy was found in Aspero, a sacred site within the city of Caral that was a garbage dump for more than 30 years until becoming an archeological site in the 1990s. Palomino said the carefully preserved remains, dating to 3,000BC, contained skin, part of the
TRUMP EFFECT: The win capped one of the most dramatic turnarounds in Canadian political history after the Conservatives had led the Liberals by more than 20 points Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney yesterday pledged to win US President Donald Trump’s trade war after winning Canada’s election and leading his Liberal Party to another term in power. Following a campaign dominated by Trump’s tariffs and annexation threats, Carney promised to chart “a new path forward” in a world “fundamentally changed” by a US that is newly hostile to free trade. “We are over the shock of the American betrayal, but we should never forget the lessons,” said Carney, who led the central banks of Canada and the UK before entering politics earlier this year. “We will win this trade war and
‘BODIES EVERYWHERE’: The incident occurred at a Filipino festival celebrating an anti-colonial leader, with the driver described as a ‘lone suspect’ known to police Canadian police arrested a man on Saturday after a car plowed into a street party in the western Canadian city of Vancouver, killing a number of people. Authorities said the incident happened shortly after 8pm in Vancouver’s Sunset on Fraser neighborhood as members of the Filipino community gathered to celebrate Lapu Lapu Day. The festival, which commemorates a Filipino anti-colonial leader from the 16th century, falls this year on the weekend before Canada’s election. A 30-year-old local man was arrested at the scene, Vancouver police wrote on X. The driver was a “lone suspect” known to police, a police spokesperson told journalists at the
North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has unveiled a new naval destroyer, claiming it as a significant advancement toward his goal of expanding the operational range and preemptive strike capabilities of his nuclear-armed military, state media said yesterday. North Korea’s state-run Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) said Kim attended the launching ceremony for the 5,000-tonne warship on Friday at the western port of Nampo. Kim framed the arms buildup as a response to perceived threats from the US and its allies in Asia, who have been expanding joint military exercises amid rising tensions over the North’s nuclear program. He added that the acquisition
RSS