WASHINGTON

PENTAGON ACKNOWLEDGES PROSECUTORS’ CONCERNS OVER TERROR TRIALS

The Pentagon acknowledged yesterday that two former members of the military team handling prosecutions of terror suspects at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, alleged last year that the trial system was rigged in favor of the government. Officials said the prosecutors’ claims of ethical lapses and potential criminal acts had been reviewed and dismissed as unfounded. Pentagon spokesman Lawrence Di Rita said an investigation determined they were “much ado about nothing.”

In a later written statement, the Pentagon said an “operational assessment” of the chief prosecutor’s office – undertaken in response to the allegations – recommended a restructuring, including unspecified personnel changes.

The allegations by Air Force Major John Carr, who was then a captain, and Air Force Major Robert Preston were first reported by the Wall Street Journal and the New York Times on Monday. Both newspapers quoted from March 2004 internal e-mails written by Major Carr and Major Preston that detailed the allegations.

– Associated Press

LEGISLATION WOULD EXPAND FLIGHTS INTO LA GUARDIA

A bill introduced in Congress last week would remove restrictions on long-haul domestic flights from La Guardia Airport, three senators who are co-sponsoring the measure announced yesterday. The Abolishing Aviation Barriers Act of 2005 would wipe out the so-called perimeter rule at La Guardia that bars scheduled flights of more than 1,500 miles, except on Saturdays. Flights to Denver are permitted under a grandfather clause.

The bill’s backers are Senators McCain and Kyl of Arizona, and Senator Ensign of Nevada, all Republicans.

A Port Authority spokesman, Pasquale DiFulco, declined to comment on the legislation but said the perimeter rule helps distribute air traffic to other area airports, such as John F. Kennedy and Newark. “The airports are really designed to work as a system,” he said.

Mr. DiFulco said the flight restrictions help keep La Guardia from becoming a victim of its popularity with travelers. In 2000, lengthy delays became routine as the airport struggled with surging traffic. This year, passenger demand, which was dampened after the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, is returning to similar levels.

– Staff Reporter of the Sun

JUDGE AWARDS CONSERVATIVE GROUP $900,000 IN LEGAL FEES

A federal judge has awarded nearly $900,000 in attorneys’ fees to a conservative legal group in connection with its decade-long battle for records of how the Commerce Department awarded seats on trade junkets during the Clinton administration.

In a ruling issued Friday, Judge Royce Lamberth ordered the government to pay $897,331 to Judicial Watch in connection with four suits the group brought under the Freedom of Information Act. On numerous occasions, the judge sharply criticized the government’s handling of the litigation. “It has been demonstrated that the [Commerce Department] wrongfully withheld documents, destroyed documents, and removed or allowed the removal of others, all with the apparent intention of thwarting the FOIA and the orders of this court,” Judge Lamberth wrote in 1998.

Documents released as a result of the lawsuits showed “the misuse of the Commerce Department’s trade trips as a political fund-raising operation,” the president of Judicial Watch, Thomas Fitton, said. “The taxpayers are still paying for Clinton criminality here. Hopefully, it will serve as a lesson to other government agencies to being complying with the law.”

– Staff Reporter of the Sun

NORTHEAST

WRONGLY CONVICTED MAN RELEASED FROM PRISON

A man who spent 19 years behind bars for a rape he didn’t commit was released from prison yesterday after new tests of DNA evidence cleared him. Friends and family broke into applause when a county judge dismissed charges against Thomas Doswell. About 30 minutes later, Mr. Doswell walked out of the county jail a free man – expressing thanks, not bitterness. “I’m thankful justice has been served. The court system is not perfect, but it works,” he said.

Mr. Doswell, 46, was convicted in the 1986 rape of a 48-year-old woman at a hospital in Pittsburgh. When he was convicted, he was 25 and the father of two young children.

He was sentenced to 13 to 26 years in prison and was denied parole four times because he refused to accept responsibility for the crime. Prosecutors originally opposed DNA testing for Mr. Doswell, but a judge ordered it. When the tests came back last month showing that semen taken from the victim was not from Mr. Doswell, prosecutors filed motions to vacate his sentence and release him.

– Associated Press