If true, this is another black eye for the Justice Department, which has been trying to dig its way out of allegations of misconduct in another high profile case — Sen. Ted Stevens. Are these isolated incidents? A good question for someone to ask.
MATTHEW BARAKAT
The Associated Press
ALEXANDRIA, Va. – The Justice Department may have hoodwinked a defendant in a high-profile terrorism case into thinking his plea bargain would protect him from furthe
r prosecutions, a federal judge said Monday.
Monday’s hearing in U.S. District Court was the latest in which Judge Leonie Brinkema questioned the Justice Department’s tactics in pursuing a criminal contempt case against former professor Sami Al-Arian, once accused of being a leading Palestinian terrorist.
Brinkema gave Al-Arian’s lawyers 10 days to file papers seeking dismissal of the case on the grounds that prosecutors failed to keep promises made under the plea bargain. She acknowledged that the protections Al-Arian wants enforced may not have been explicitly outlined in the original agreement.
“But I think there’s something more important here, and that’s the integrity of the Justice Department,” she said.
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