Prosecutor, Agent Indicted in Detroit

Ex-prosecutor Richard G. Convertino has sued Justice. (Paul Sancya - AP)

Convertino faces up to 30 years in prison and a $1 million fine, while Smith could be sentenced to 20 years behind bars and a $750,000 penalty.

The indictment alleges that, during the trial, Convertino concealed photographs taken by Smith and another State Department staff member of Queen Alia Hospital in Jordan. Convertino had alleged that the defendants made a casing sketch of the military hospital in preparation for a terrorist attack, and Smith testified that he had no photographs with which to compare the sketches.

But Justice investigators said later that Convertino knew U.S. officials had taken numerous photographs and that "it is difficult, if not impossible, to compare the . . . sketches with the photos and see a correlation."

Smith, stationed as a security officer at the U.S. Embassy in Amman, Jordan, from 1999 to 2002, assisted in the Detroit investigation.

The indictment notably does not contain several other allegations of misconduct by Convertino that were aired in prior court proceedings, including disputes over a second sketch alleged to depict a Turkish air base and over his failure to disclose evidence undermining a key prosecution witness.

Margaret Raben, a Detroit lawyer who represented one of the defendants, Abdel-Ilah Elmardoudi, said the government may have purposely kept its case against Convertino narrow in an attempt to prevent him from responding with his own allegations of misconduct by higher-ranking Justice officials.

Raben said the indictment was a "vindication for the defense team," but would do little to help the former defendants in the case. One of the defendants has been deported, two others are fighting fraud charges and the fourth is living in Dearborn, Mich., with his mother.

"The reality is that the government ruined these people's lives, and there is no remedy for that," Raben said. "Rick Convertino can go to prison for the next 15 years and it won't make one bit of difference for Abdel-Ilah or any of the others."

In a second criminal case, Convertino allegedly misled a judge about the defendant's cooperation with the government and "falsely suggested" that the original prosecutor had doubts about the accuracy of the amount of drugs in the case, according to the indictment. As a result, the defendant received a prison term of eight months, rather than the 108 to 135 months outlined in sentencing guidelines.

Researcher Julie Tate contributed to this report.