The Bush administration’s troubled case against an accused Detroit terror cell is being dealt another blow with revelations that a witness came forward after the trial to undercut a key piece of video evidence. The Associated Press reports that a man shown in a videotape of landmarks in New York, Las Vegas, and California has told investigators the tape was an amateur film and not surveillance as prosecutors portrayed at the trial of four suspected terrorists. AP says that disclosure could deal a significant blow to the first major terror prosecution since the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks.
A review of the case by the Justice Department in Washington is ongoing. Justice spokesman Mark Corallo said that “at the end of the day, the government will do the right thing based on the facts and the evidence.” James Thomas, attorney for one of the Detroit defendants, said the new witness testimony undercuts one of the key pieces of evidence against his client. “It was an amateurish video taken by school kids,” he said.
Link: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A59103-2004Aug12.html