Gov't won't appeal decision to ban witness in NY

[maddezmom]

Source: AP

Gov't won't appeal decision to ban witness in NY
By DEEPTI HAJELA (AP) – 4 hours ago

NEW YORK — The U.S. government announced Sunday it would prosecute the first Guantanamo Bay detainee to face a civilian trial without its star witness because appealing a judge's ruling excluding him could cause significant delay and inconvenience other witnesses and victims.

Besides, the government said in a letter to U.S. District Judge Lewis A. Kaplan, there was enough evidence without the star witness to convict Ahmed Khalfan Ghailani of conspiring in 1998 to blow up two U.S. embassies in Africa, killing 224 people, including a dozen Americans.

The decision by the government not to appeal clears the way for the trial to resume Tuesday, when opening statements are expected to begin after a jury is chosen from a pool of about 65 potential jurors in Manhattan.

In the letter, Assistant U.S. Attorney Michael Farbiarz said the government disagreed with the judge's decision and would have appealed it under different circumstances. But he said many trial witnesses had planned to come to New York based on the long-scheduled date of the trial and some might even be unwilling or unable to return if the trial faced a significant delay


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