Richard Convertino is a former federal prosecutor in

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. Convertino was the lead

Assistant U.S. Attorney An assistant United States attorney (AUSA) is an official career civil service position in the U.S. Department of Justice composed of lawyers working under the U.S. attorney of each U.S. federal judicial district. They represent the federal gov ...

in the "

Detroit Sleeper Cell The Detroit Sleeper Cell is a group of men of Middle-Eastern descent who the United States Department of Justice believed were plotting an attack on Disneyland. Trial While on a trip to Disneyland, the four men recorded a home video. The Justice ...

" prosecutions of Karim Koubriti and Abdel-Ilah Elmardoudi.Detroit 'Sleeper Cell' Prosecutor Faces Probe
''

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'', November 20, 2005 However, the

U.S. Department of Justice The United States Department of Justice (DOJ), also known as the Justice Department, is a federal executive department of the U.S. government that oversees the domestic enforcement of federal laws and the administration of justice. It is equi ...

subsequently removed Convertino from his position and asked courts to dismiss those convictions, on the grounds that Convertino had failed to disclose evidence to which the defense was entitled.

Overview

Federal charges were laid in the Detroit Sleeper Cell in September 2001, very shortly following the attacks of

September 11, 2001 The September 11 attacks, also known as 9/11, were four coordinated Islamist terrorist suicide attacks by al-Qaeda against the United States in 2001. Nineteen terrorists hijacked four commercial airliners, crashing the first two into ...

. DOJ's prosecution in ''U.S. v. Koubriti'' alleged that an apparent holiday video five men made while visiting

Disneyland Disneyland is a amusement park, theme park at the Disneyland Resort in Anaheim, California. It was the first theme park opened by the Walt Disney Company and the only one designed and constructed under the direct supervision of Walt Disney, ...

was really a clandestine

reconnaissance In military operations, military reconnaissance () or scouting is the exploration of an area by military forces to obtain information about enemy forces, the terrain, and civil activities in the area of operations. In military jargon, reconnai ...

video, which would allow bomb experts to plan where to plant bombs. As lead prosecutor in the ''Koubriti'' case, Convertino argued that the five men were not the Westernized,

secular Secularity, also the secular or secularness (from Latin , or or ), is the state of being unrelated or neutral in regards to religion. The origins of secularity can be traced to the Bible itself. The concept was fleshed out through Christian hi ...

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they seemed. The government argued that they were "

Takfiris ''Takfiri'' is an Arabic and Islamic term denoting a Muslim who excommunicates one of their coreligionists—i.e., who accuses another Muslim of being an apostate, or , 'one who turns back'. According to the traditional interpretations of Isl ...

"—radical

jihadist Jihadism is a neologism for modern, armed militant Political aspects of Islam, Islamic movements that seek to Islamic state, establish states based on Islamic principles. In a narrower sense, it refers to the belief that armed confrontation ...

s who had a dispensation to drink alcohol, use narcotics and avoid praying, in order to blend into western societies, while secretly plotting clandestine attacks.USA v. Karim Kobrouti et al.
''

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'' Doubt was cast on the prosecution's case in '' U.S. v. Koubriti'' when it was alleged that the star witness, a member of the group who turned on the others, was a known

con artist A scam, or a confidence trick, is an attempt to defraud a person or group after first gaining their trust. Confidence tricks exploit victims using a combination of the victim's credulity, naivety, compassion, vanity, confidence, irresponsibi ...

. Convertino had not disclosed this and other potentially

exculpatory evidence Exculpatory evidence is evidence favorable to the defendant in a criminal trial that exonerates or tends to exonerate the defendant of guilt. It is the opposite of inculpatory evidence, which tends to present guilt. In many countries, includin ...

to the defense. On March 29, 2006, the Department of Justice (DOJ) announced criminal indictments for obstruction of justice against Convertino and Harry Raymond Smith, former security official assigned to the US Embassy in

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, who served as a government witness in ''U.S. v. Koubriti'' case. Convertino has alleged that the DOJ disclosed other information to the news media that is protected by the Privacy Act in order to smear or discredit Convertino for his

whistleblowing Whistleblowing (also whistle-blowing or whistle blowing) is the activity of a person, often an employee, revealing information about activity within a private or public organization that is deemed illegal, immoral, illicit, unsafe, unethical or ...

disclosures to the U.S. Senate Finance Committee.

Prosecution and acquittal

Richard Convertino was charged with conspiracy to conceal possibly exculpatory evidence from the defense and lying to a Federal judge. Harry Smith III, formerly a U.S. Department of State investigator who had testified in the terrorism case prosecuted by Richard Convertino, was allegedly part of the conspiracy. Not turning the evidence over to the defense had led, at the government's request, to the court dismissal of the terrorism case prior to the charging of the case's prosecutor for the conspiracy. The jury acquitted the prosecutor and the investigator on October 31, 2007.

Other cases

In 2002, Convertino prosecuted Ed Martin in relation to the

University of Michigan basketball scandal The University of Michigan basketball scandal, or the Ed Martin scandal, concerned National Collegiate Athletics Association (NCAA) rules violations resulting from the relationship between the University of Michigan (or Michigan), its men's bask ...

In the media

On May 30, 2008, radio show

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broadcast the Convertino's story, in relation to the conviction and subsequent retraction of ''U.S. vs. Koubriti''. The show is entitle
The Prosecutor

References

External links

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'', September 1, 2004
Convertino & Associates
{{DEFAULTSORT:Convertino, Richard Year of birth missing (living people) Living people Michigan lawyers