Overzealous prosecutions undercut war on terrorism (USAToday)

[struggle4progress]

<snip> In recent months, several high-profile Justice Department or military cases have collapsed — but not before they damaged lives, trampled constitutional rights and squandered resources that could have been focused on real threats.

The common thread is that authorities, fixated on preventing terrorism at any cost, ignored or avoided evidence that might have disproved their theories. Such zealous pursuits undermine the very values that terrorists are seeking to destroy — individual rights and the rule of law.

Among the key cases that have unraveled:
Detroit terrorism. In June 2003, three North African men arrested a week after 9/11 were convicted in what was heralded as the government's first major post-9/11 terrorism trial. This month, a federal judge threw out the convictions and dismissed the terrorism charges after the Justice Department found that the prosecutors had withheld evidence that undermined their case. The judge wrote that the prosecution's zeal to convict trumped "its broader obligation to the justice system and the rule of law."
Spanish bombing. Last May, U.S. authorities detained Portland, Ore., lawyer Brandon Mayfield, a Muslim convert, in connection with the March 11 train bombing in Madrid. They said his fingerprint was found at the scene, and Mayfield was jailed for 14 days. But they were wrong, and a judge threw out the case. Spanish authorities had raised doubts about the fingerprint match early on. Now, two Justice Department probes are focused on the FBI's blunder and the conduct of prosecutors.
Military spying. Last September, the Army accused Yee, a Muslim chaplain then assigned to the prison camp at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, of being a spy and held him in solitary confinement for 76 days. While the government suggested he could face the death penalty, it actually charged him with only minor infractions. They were dropped last spring. The military said it didn't want to release sensitive information, but former military judges and prosecutors say the case collapsed for lack of evidence. <snip>

http://www.usatoday.com/news/opinion/2004-09-21-ourview-overzealousprosecution_x.htm