Indicting the Indicters

Terror trial prosecution in crosshairs

Special grand jury considers indicting 3 accused of holding back evidence in Metro case.

David Shepardson / The Detroit News
February 19, 2006

DETROIT -- A special federal grand jury is nearing the end of its probe into whether three government officials conspired to obstruct justice and induce perjury in the 2003 Detroit terrorism trial, officials familiar with the case told The Detroit News.

Under investigation is the former lead prosecutor, Richard G. Convertino, along with the FBI Special Agent Michael Thomas and another witness in the trial, U.S. State Department security officer Harry Raymond Smith.

In June 2003, Convertino won a conviction against two Detroit men on terrorism charges. The case, which claimed four Arab immigrants were part of a sleeper cell, was the nation's first terror trial after the September 11 attacks.

The convictions were tossed out in 2004 after a Justice Department review found prosecutors suppressed evidence that might have bolstered the defendants' claims of innocence.

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BrooklynDodger(s) comments:

The article notes that "the special grand jury has heard from numerous witnesses in the last six months, ranging from prosecutors to an office paralegal, according to several people familiar with the proceedings. By law, grand jury deliberations are secret. The grand jury is also considering other charges."

All things considered, the Dodger(s) would like to know if there are any "sleeper cells" [agents of an international conspiracy] or even home grown cells of persons planning terrorist events. Certainly the invasion, occupation and exploitation of oil wealth of Iraq has increased the probablity of home grown cells seeking revenge. The Dodger(s) suspect that offshore agents have found that they can fight the US conveniently in Iraq and so don't have the make the effort to fight the US here.

The great fear about Patriot Act is that it would be used against progressive socila movements. The highest profile target would be the peace movement, which connects to many other movements.

These victims don't seem to be connected to any social movement. So the question is whether this fabricated prosecution arose from simple racism, self-aggrandizing by the prosecutor, an attempt to gain an upper hand politically by manufacturing a sleeper cell, or what.