Feds won’t fight ruling on witness

NEW YORK – The U.S. government announced Sunday it would prosecute the first Guantanamo Bay detainee to face a civilian trial without its star witness because appealing a judge’s ruling excluding him could cause significant delay and inconvenience other witnesses and victims.

Besides, the government said in a letter to U.S. District Judge Lewis A. Kaplan, there was enough evidence without the star witness to convict Ahmed Khalfan Ghailani of conspiring in 1998 to blow up two U.S. embassies in Africa, killing 224, including a dozen Americans.

The decision by the government not to appeal clears the way for the trial to resume Tuesday, when opening statements are expected to begin after a jury is chosen.

In the letter, Assistant U.S. Attorney Michael Farbiarz said the government disagreed with the judge’s decision and would have appealed it under different circumstances. But he said many trial witnesses had planned to come to New York based on the long-scheduled date of the trial, and some might even be unwilling or unable to return if the trial faced a significant delay.

He said many victims have already arrived in New York after a long wait to see Ghailani face trial after having traveled significant distances.

The judge handed the government a significant setback when he ruled that the star witness, Hussein Abebe, a former cab driver from Tanzania, could not testify that Ghailani bought explosives from him. The judge said the government learned about Abebe when Ghailani underwent coercive interrogation.