Qattaa v. Bush

• Court: District Court, District of Columbia
• Decided: January 14, 2009
• Docket: Civil Action No. 2008-1233
• Status: Published

Opinion

UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA

__________________________________________ ) MONSOOR MUHAMMED ALI QATTAA, ) ) Petitioner, ) ) v. ) Civil Action No. 08-cv-1233 (ESH) ) GEORGE W. BUSH et al., ) ) Defendants. ) __________________________________________)

ORDER

Based on the consent of both parties, the Court hereby grants [59] Respondents’ Motion

for Extension of Time to Comply with Case Management Orders Requiring Exculpatory

Disclosures/Certifications, and, [67] Petitioner’s Unopposed Motion to Modify Scheduling

Order. This Court’s December 3, 2008 [52] Order is amended as follows:

It is hereby ORDERED:

1. Status Hearing

The status hearing scheduled for February 12, 2008, at 9:45 a.m. is vacated. The next

status hearing is scheduled for March 13, 2009, at 9:30 a.m.

2. Authorization

Petitioner’s counsel shall file proof of client authorization for counsel to pursue this

action on petitioner’s behalf, or, alternatively, an update on the status of the issue of

authorization on or before February 10, 2009. 3. Discovery:

The government shall file on or before February 13, 2009, a statement of facts upon

which it intends to rely in making its case-in-chief. The statement of facts shall

present, in numerical form, a short statement of each material fact upon which the

government intends to rely in making its case-in-chief, and it shall identify all

evidence, in whatever form, the government expects to elicit in support of those facts,

including the names of any witnesses the government intends to call. If the

government intends to rely on any statements in making its case-in-chief, it shall

disclose on or before February 13, 2009: (1) the identity of the speaker; (2) the

content of the statement; (3) the person(s) to whom the statement was made; (4) the

date and time the statement was made or adopted; and (5) the circumstances under

which such statement was made or adopted (including the location where the

statement was made). If the government cannot identify the original source or any

later source of the information, it must so indicate. If the government intends to rely

on any document (including 302 reports), the documents shall be produced to

petitioner’s counsel by February 13, 2009, and the relevant portions of the documents

shall be identified (by page and paragraph number) if the government does not intend

to rely on the entire document. The government shall not be precluded from relying

on evidence not contained in its statement of facts to rebut petitioner’s arguments on

the merits.

4. Exculpatory Evidence:

The government shall disclose all exculpatory evidence on or before February 13,

2009. In its December 2, 2008 Order, the Court defined exculpatory evidence as “all reasonably available evidence in its possession or any evidence within its actual

knowledge that tends to materially undermine the evidence that the government

intends to rely on in its case-in-chief, including any evidence or information that

undercuts the reliability and/or credibility of the government’s evidence (i.e., such as

evidence that casts doubt on a speaker’s credibility, evidence that undermines the

reliability of a witness’s identification of petitioner, or evidence that indicates a

statement is unreliable because it is the product of abuse, torture, or mental or

physical incapacity).” This definition encompasses, but is not limited to, the

discovery provided for in Part I.D.1 of Judge Hogan’s November 6, 2008 Case

Management Order, as amended by Judge Hogan’s December 16, 2008 Order. The

term “reasonably available evidence” is not limited to evidence discovered by the

attorneys preparing the factual return for the petitioner; it also includes any other

evidence the government discovers while litigating habeas corpus petitions filed by

detainees at Guantanamo Bay.

5. Additional Discovery

On or before March 5, 2009, if petitioner’s counsel has identified any other discovery

that they seeks, petitioner’s counsel shall file a motion pursuant to ¶ I.E.2 of Judge

Hogan’s November 6, 2008 CMO.

6. Joint Status Report:

On or before March 10, 2009, the parties shall file a joint status report, not to exceed

ten pages. The joint status report shall (1) summarize the discovery completed to

date, (2) identify any anticipated problems related to further discovery, and (3)

propose a schedule for future proceedings. SO ORDERED.

_________/s/______________ ELLEN SEGAL HUVELLE United States District Judge

Date: January 14, 2009