Prosecutor in Terror Case Sues Justice Department

The federal prosecutor who won the first and only jury-trial conviction in the war on terrorism sued the Department of Justice on Tuesday, claiming that he was never given adequate support in the case and that senior government officials seemed more interested in publicity than in seeing justice served.

Richard G. Convertino, a 14-year veteran of the U.S. attorney’s office in Detroit, also alleged in his lawsuit against Atty. Gen. John Ashcroft and other department administrators that Washington officials acknowledged that they were “enjoying” undeserved credit for keeping the country safe from domestic terrorism.

Although there have been numerous complaints from civil liberties groups since the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, the lawsuit marked the first time that someone inside the government’s war on terrorism had publicly stated that there were problems within the Justice Department’s terrorism and violent crimes division.

Convertino, 42, a highly successful federal prosecutor, has been in a dispute with senior Justice Department officials over the Detroit case, in which two men were convicted in June of conspiring to scout Disneyland, the MGM casino in Las Vegas and the Detroit Metropolitan Airport for terrorist attacks. The department removed Convertino from the case in September.

At issue is an allegation that Convertino failed to turn over certain information to defense attorneys about the government’s star witness, a concern that has prompted U.S. District Judge Gerald E. Rosen to consider throwing out the two convictions. Convertino’s lawsuit could give the judge more reason to question the verdicts.

Rosen’s decision is expected soon. If the convictions are tossed out, it would be seen as a major blow to the Bush administration, especially in an election year in which the White House is trying to show that the president has been tough on terrorists.

Mark Corallo, chief spokesman at the Department of Justice, said Tuesday that “because this is a matter now of pending litigation, we have no comment.”

Convertino could not be reached for comment Tuesday. But his lawyer, Stephen M. Kohn of Washington, said: “His career has been irreparably harmed. He’s depressed. He’s extremely upset.”

The Detroit case is the only high-profile prosecution since Sept. 11, 2001, to go to trial. Others have ended in guilty pleas, which the Department of Justice has offered as proof the Bush administration is winning the war on terrorism.

The Detroit case began six days after the Sept. 11 attacks. Federal agents went to a second-story apartment in the middle of the night looking for a suspected terrorist. He was gone, and they instead found four other men.

Some of them had worked at the airport, and they were arrested and charged with canvassing the airport and other locations for weak points that terrorists could exploit. In Washington, Ashcroft announced that federal law enforcement officials believed that the suspects had prior knowledge of the Sept. 11 attacks, a statement he later retracted.

Convertino was chosen as the lead prosecutor. While other terrorism prosecutions were ending in plea bargains, Convertino proceeded toward trial.

But, he said, there was a “lack of support and cooperation, lack of effective assistance, lack of resources, and intradepartmental infighting that plagued and hindered the investigation and prosecution” of his case.

“These concerns,” he added, “directly related to the ability of the United States to effectively utilize the criminal justice system as a component in the ‘war on terrorism.’ ”

Convertino cited in his lawsuit an e-mail from another prosecutor who wrote to Jeffrey G. Collins, the U.S. attorney in Detroit, that Washington officials “have rendered no assistance and are, in my judgment, adversely impacting on both trial prep and trial strategy.”

Karim Koubriti and Abdel-Ilah Elmardoudi were convicted in June of conspiring to provide material support to terrorists and document fraud. A third defendant, Amhed Hannan, was acquitted of terrorism but convicted of document fraud. The final defendant, Farouk Ali-Haimoud, was acquitted on all charges.

Since then, defense lawyers have complained that information about the truthfulness of the government’s lead witness was withheld, prompting Rosen to rethink the verdicts.

According to his lawsuit, Convertino over the years received department commendations for prosecuting organized-crime members in Detroit, among other cases, and was given the department’s highest rating for his “exceptional” trial skills.

Convertino said in his lawsuit that he had been told by a Justice Department official that the department cared deeply about positive news reports about its performance, even if those reports were not true.

He said a “senior official” with the Department of Justice’s terrorism and violent crimes division told him in a note that favorable news reports about an “orchestrated nationwide enforcement program” against terrorism “were not accurate.”

But, Convertino said, the note added that the department was “enjoying”’ media “speculation” that things were going well, and that the “press gives us more credit than we deserve.”

Convertino maintained that the department had “continuously placed perception over reality,” which had been to the “serious detriment of the war on terror.”

Convertino was subpoenaed to testify about the case before the Senate Finance Committee. He said his decision to appear before the committee did not sit well with senior Justice Department officials who, he said, liked to be the ones who appeared on Capitol Hill.

Convertino denied that information about the government witness was purposely withheld from defense attorneys, and he told the judge that it would not have changed the jury’s verdict anyway. Allegations about his handling of the information, along with his Capitol Hill testimony, triggered an internal investigation by the Office of Professional Responsibility, he said.

“It is apparent to me that your [OPR] ‘investigation’ is another effort in a series of reprisals against me,” Convertino said in a memo to Alan Gershel, chief of the Justice Department’s criminal division.

Convertino seeks an unspecified amount of money to cover “harm to reputation and embarrassment and humiliation.” The lawsuit was sent to the U.S. District Court in Washington late Friday and made public Tuesday.