Monday, July 29, 2013

Very secret case

So secret that the judge can't read a government motion in his chambers.  Via the Sun-Sentinel:


The evidence against two Broward County brothers accused of plotting a terrorist attack is voluminous, a government prosecutor said Friday, and could take months for defense lawyers to sort out.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Karen Gilbert also told U.S. Magistrate Judge John J. O'Sullivan the government is drawing up a highly secret motion in Washington, D.C., to be hand-delivered to the judge by special courier. "Because of the classification level, you'll have to view it somewhere else than your chambers," she said.
Gilbert told O'Sullivan that she has turned over to defense attorneys nearly all the government's evidence in the case of Sheheryar Alam Qazi, 30, and his brother Raees Alam Qazi, 20. The Oakland Park men, 2000 immigrants from Pakistan, are charged with plotting to detonate a bomb somewhere in New York City.
Much of the evidence consists of wiretapped recordings and computer correspondence, Gilbert told the judge during a hearing in Miami federal court, enough to fill a file cabinet.
"There are thousands of audio sessions of different lengths," she said. "There's probably thousands of emails. It would take weeks, if not months, to get through."
If the judge can't look at the motion in chambers, can the prosecutors prepare it in their offices?  Where do they review the evidence?

9 comments:

Anonymous said...

Reminds me of this classic "double secret probation" case from the Bush '43 era, involving a top secret banana peel:
http://www.salon.com/2008/07/09/alharamain_lawsuit/

Rumpole said...

There used to be a bar in Miami Beach called The Irish House, which was perfect to view such material. Sadly, it's gone.

Anonymous said...

Why do you hate America? Secrets keep us safe.

SCIF said...

Ever hear of a SCIF?

Rumpole said...

Secrets kept Stalin safe as well.

MC Waste Services, Inc said...

http://www.miaminewtimes.com/2013-08-01/news/michelle-spence-jones-miami-politics/ Dunn is a stooge

Bob Becerra said...

This is ridiculous, it is like out of "Get Smart", except that we are not any smarter. This is a public court proceeding where evidence is going to be presented in open court in front of a jury.

MC Waste Services, Inc said...

http://www.palmbeachpost.com/news/news/crime-law/jury-clears-2-local-pill-mill-doctors-of-9-overdos/nY8Q4/

Rumpole said...

No, actually I think I like it. We should have trials like this. The government can arrest people, and then hold them without bond, and then tell the jury during the trial that although the evidence is too secret to be presented to the jury, that the jury should convict nonetheless. Then after being found guilty, the defendant could appeal and the government could now write in a brief that the evidence is too secret to reveal to an appellate court. Then after the conviction is affirmed, we could put the incident in a book, give it a title, say it was a long lost George Orwell story, and sell it and make a lot of money.