Prosecutors today basked to delay the trial of four alleged homegrown terrorists after a federal judge said they failed to turn over key information about the lead defendant and ordered a review of all evidence in the case.
Judge Colleen McMahon said a memo by an FBI agent who told security personnel not to worry if they saw James Cromitie conducting surveillance at upstate Stewart Air National Guard base should have been revealed to the defense months ago.
“There is absolutely no excuse for this not to have been raised in the fall or winter,” she said during a hearing in White Plains federal court.
Prosecutor David Rafkin asked to postpone jury selection that had been set to begin today for the trial of Cromitie and three co-defendants pending a possible appeal of the judge’s order.
Rafkin — who insisted the memo by agent Robert Fuller wasn’t covered by disclosure governing evidence favorable to the defense — said a review of the voluminous record in the case could take months.
“This case has a lot of tentacles, even though it doesn’t involve overseas terror operations per se,” he said.
The defendants, from upstate Newburgh, are charged with plotting to bomb Riverdale synagogues and shoot down military aircraft at Stewart.
The defense contends the men were entrapped by a government informer that lured them into a sting operation.
(Source: NY Post)