Wednesday, February 22, 2012

Updates related to Harvey's book Three Felonies a Day, a critical take on the Justice Department

Archive by Years

Tarek Mehanna Found Guilty


I was saddened, though not terribly surprised, when I heard yesterday that after only ten hours of deliberations, a federal jury found Tarek Mehanna guilty of all seven counts for which he stood accused. Jurors felt the government had proven that Mehanna provided "material assistance to terrorists" for such actions as making translations of jihadi videos. Mehanna now awaits sentencing and may face up to life in prison for acts that, until now, seemed clearly protected under the First Amendment.

I was asked by PBS affiliate WGBH-TV, and NPR affiliate WBUR, to speak about the Mehanna case yesterday on their respective stations.

Click here for my interview on WBUR's Radio Boston (Dec. 20), or listen to the audio clip below.

Radio Boston

Click here for my interview on WBUR's Morning Edition (Dec. 21), or listen to the audio clip below.

Morning Edition

After the jump is video of my interview on WGBH-TV's Greater Boston (Dec. 20).

Discussing Tarek Mehanna on WBUR


On Tuesday, I was invited to discuss the Tarek Mehanna case on WBUR's radio program "Greater Boston." In the show, I debated Captain Glenn Sulmasy, a Law Professor at the US Coast Guard Academy in Connecticut.

As I have written here and elsewhere, my view is that the Mehanna case is, fundamentally, about free speech. Mehanna's translations of some Jihadi videos form the basis for his most serious charges of "Providing Material Support to Terrorists." I argue, in my debate with Capt. Sulmasy, that translations represent clearly protected speech; after all, I could make a translation of Mein Kampf, and it would not mean that I should be arrested for having urged the killing of Jews and Gypsies!

To hear a recording of the segment, click here, or listen to the embedded program below.

Radio Boston

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Interview on CBS Boston, NightSide with Dan Rea


Listen to the radio interview on the CBS Boston site, in which I discuss, among other topics, the dangerous elasticity of wire fraud and mail fraud, or listen to the embedded audio after the jump.

In three-part series, WBUR's David Boeri shines light on federal prosecutorial misconduct

WBUR-90.9-FM, one of Boston’s NPR-affiliated stations, this week ran a three-part report, by reporter David Boeri, on a remarkable case that has arisen in the federal court in Boston, in which evidence of alleged serious misconduct on the part of a federal prosecutor has been uncovered. Boeri interviewed me in parts 2 and 3 of his report, because – I assume – of my long-standing concern with Department of Justice tactics that pose a serious risk of convicting the innocent.


Some of the dangers posed by the DOJ’s practices with regard to “honing” the testimony of cooperating witnesses are discussed in the Introduction to Three Felonies a Day, at pp. XXXVIII to XLIII.

Below are links, as well as embedded audio, to the three WBUR segments.


NPR Connecticut: 'A Nation of Criminals?'


Talking TFD on the NPR Connecticut program Where We Live, hosted by John Dankosky, with Guest Stanley Twardy, a former U.S. Attorney for the District of Connecticut. We discuss, among other topics, the role of prosecutorial discretion and the question of criminal intent.

A Nation of Criminals?

"A Nation of Criminals?Where We Live, NPR Connecticut

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