Ex-Gitmo prosecutor rips military tribunals

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/26908214/

Associated Press
updated 8:32 p.m. ET, Fri., Sept. 26, 2008

GUANTANAMO BAY NAVAL BASE, Cuba - A former prosecutor testified Friday that breakdowns in the delivery of evidence to Guantanamo detainees could lead to wrongful convictions, saying his experience changed him from a "true believer" to feeling "truly deceived."

Testifying in the war crimes case he led before quitting this month, Army Lt. Col. Darrel Vandeveld said the government has not provided exculpatory evidence to lawyers for Mohammed Jawad, who is accused in a grenade attack that injured two American soldiers.

He said the embattled military tribunal system may not be capable of delivering justice for Jawad or the victims.

"They are not served by having someone who may be innocent be convicted of the crime," said Vandeveld, who testified by video link from Washington.

Vandeveld, the second former prosecutor to testify on behalf of a detainee this year, said the problem affects cases throughout the Pentagon's system for prosecuting alleged terrorists at this U.S. Navy base.

"This is a system that has existed for six years, and I think it is impossible for anyone in good conscience to stand up and say he or she is provided all the discovery in a case," said Vandeveld, who has blamed bureaucracy as well as ethical lapses.
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Vandeveld said he become gradually disillusioned and even developed sympathy for the defendant, who was captured as a teenager and allegedly subjected to beatings and sleep-deprivation.

"My views changed," said the once hard-charging prosecutor. "I am a father, and it's not an exercise in self-pity to ask oneself how you would feel if your own son was treated in this fashion."

Vandeveld is at least the fourth prosecutor to quit in disillusionment with the tribunals. The former chief prosecutor, Air Force Col. Morris Davis, quit in October and later testified about alleged political interference.