Evidence Mess Threatens Gitmo Cases: Ex-Prosecutor

Evidence 'lost, disorganized'
By Peter Fearon,  Newser Staff
Posted Jan 14, 2009 4:34 AM CST
Evidence Mess Threatens Gitmo Cases: Ex-Prosecutor
Razor wire-topped fences line the Camp Six detention facility on the US Naval Base in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.   (AP Photo/Mandel Ngan, Pool)

The handling of evidence in Guantanamo Bay cases is so chaotic it may be impossible to properly convict a single prisoner, charges a former military prosecutor. Former Lt. Col. Darrel Vandeveld is supporting a federal court petition to free one detainee, Mohammed Jawad, who has been held without trial for six years, reports the Washington Post.

Vandeveld, now a senior deputy attorney general in Pennsylvania, says all prosecutions of Guantanamo detainees are plagued by a "complete lack" of organization.  "It was like a stash of documents found in a village in a raid was just put on a plane to the US" without even "rudimentary organization by date or name," he complained.
(More Guantanamo Bay stories.)

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