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Detainee trial allows hearsay and coerced statements { January 19 2007 } Original Source Link: (May no longer be active)
http://www.sptimes.com/2007/01/19/Worldandnation/New_rules_for_terror_.shtmlhttp://www.sptimes.com/2007/01/19/Worldandnation/New_rules_for_terror_.shtml
New rules for terror trials allow hearsay, coerced testimony
By ASSOCIATED PRESS
Published January 19, 2007
WASHINGTON - The Pentagon set rules Thursday for detainee trials that could allow terror suspects to be convicted using hearsay testimony and coerced statements, setting up a new clash between President Bush and Congress.
The rules are fair, said the Pentagon, which released them in a manual for the expected trials. Democrats in Congress said they would hold hearings and revive legislation on the plan, and human rights organizations said the regulations would allow evidence that would not be tolerated in civilian or military courtrooms.
According to the 238-page manual, a detainee's lawyer could not reveal classified evidence in the person's defense until the government had a chance to review it. Suspects would be allowed to view summaries of classified evidence, not the material itself.
The new regulations lack some protections used in civilian and military courtrooms, such as against coerced or hearsay evidence. They are intended to track a law passed last fall by Congress restoring Bush's plans to have special military commissions try terror-war prisoners. Those commissions had been struck down earlier in the year by the Supreme Court.
At a Pentagon briefing, Dan Dell'Orto, deputy to the Defense Department's top counsel, said the new rules will "afford all the judicial guarantees which are recognized as indispensable by civilized people."
Rep. Ike Skelton, D-Mo., chairman of the House Armed Services Committee, said he planned to scrutinize the manual to ensure that it does not "run afoul" of the Constitution.
Officials said they think that with the evidence they have now, they could eventually charge 60 to 80 detainees. The Defense Department is currently planning trials for at least 10.
There are almost 400 people suspected of ties to al-Qaida and the Taliban being held at the military's prison in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.
About 380 others have been released since the facility was opened five years ago.
Last September, Congress - then led by Republicans - sent Bush a new law granting wide latitude in interrogating and detaining captured enemy combatants. The legislation prohibited some abuses of detainees, including mutilation and rape, but granted the president leeway to decide which interrogation techniques were permissible.
In outlining the maximum punishment for various acts, the new manual includes the death penalty for people convicted of spying or taking part in a "conspiracy or joint enterprise" that kills someone.
Fast Facts:
New policies for terrorism suspects
-Allows as evidence statements obtained using coercion so long as the statement was obtained before December 2005, when a law banning cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment as defined by the Constitution when into effect.
-Allows hearsay evidence.
-Defendants selected for trial must be assigned defense counsel.
-When the government wants to protect classified information and an unclassified substitute is not available, the government could decide to drop the charges.
-Sets maximum punishments allowable for specific crimes, such as life imprisonment for knowingly aiding the enemy or the death penalty for participating in a conspiracy to commit a war crime
-Defines cruel or inhuman treatment as severe physical or mental pain or suffering, including procedures that profoundly disrupt the senses.
[Last modified January 19, 2007, 01:39:29]
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