Destruction of evidence

Detainee-Trial Evidence Was Allegedly Destroyed

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico, June 8 -- The Pentagon urged interrogators at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, to destroy handwritten notes in case they were called to testify about potentially harsh treatment of detainees, a military defense lawyer said Sunday.

Lt. Cmdr. William Kuebler, the attorney for Toronto-born Omar Khadr, said the instructions were included in a 2003 operations manual shown to him by prosecutors. He said they suggest that the United States deliberately thwarted evidence that could help terrorism suspects defend themselves at trial.

Are we do understand that not only was someone dumb enough to put destruction of evidence in writing, but that they included it in a manual?

We are going to spend decades investigating the misconduct of the present administration. Expect major advances in evidence recovery, e-discovery, litigation support, along with precdent setting rulings.

It is a great time to be in legal and criminal justice technology.

Yet another Pentagon PR disaster

Potshot at Guantanamo lawyers backfires

Two weeks after a senior Pentagon official suggested that corporations should pressure their law firms to stop assisting detainees at Guantanamo Bay, major companies have turned the tables on the Pentagon and issued statements supporting the law firms' work on behalf of terrorism suspects. ...

... Brackett Denniston, senior vice president and general counsel of General Electric, said the company strongly disagrees with the suggestion that it discriminate against law firms that do such work. "Justice is served when there is quality representation even for the unpopular," Denniston said in a statement.

That's General Electric, major defense contractor and owner of NBC News.

Threats are rarely good PR, this one was partcularly cow handed.