He described Vandeveld as a disgruntled prosecutor "who was disappointed that his superiors did not agree with his recommendations in the case." "There are no grounds for his ethical qualms," Morris said.
Several prosecutors have quit or asked to be reassigned in protest, including Air Force Col. Morris Davis, the former chief prosecutor for the military commissions. He went public with claims that he had been pressured by politically appointed senior Defense officials to pursue cases deemed "sexy" in the run-up to the 2008 elections.
The Jawad case is one of several in which the Pentagon's former legal advisor to military commissions, Air Force Brig. Gen. Thomas W. Hartmann, has been banned from playing an oversight role because of charges that he lost his neutrality by withholding exculpatory information in recommending the charges.
A Pentagon official said that Vandeveld had defended Hartmann against the undue-influence allegations in the Jawad case in recent weeks but lost, and that the general had retaliated against him, causing the prosecutor emotional distress and prompting him to quit and go public with his concerns. In his declaration, Vandeveld said military prosecutors routinely withhold exculpatory evidence from the defense in terrorism cases.
Jawad is one of about two dozen detainees facing charges in the Pentagon's specially designed system for prosecuting alleged terrorists.
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josh.meyer@latimes.com
