Ex-terrorism prosecutor loses lawsuit over story

DETROIT – A judge has dismissed a lawsuit by a former terrorism prosecutor who accused the U.S. Justice Department of violating his privacy by leaking details of an ethics investigation to the Detroit Free Press.

Federal Judge Royce Lamberth says Richard Convertino cannot show that the government acted illegally without knowing the identity of the leaker. And after seven years of litigation, the judge said Thursday the identity still is not known.

Convertino handled the first major terrorism trial after 9/11, but the convictions were thrown out because evidence was withheld. He's now in private law practice in the Detroit area.

Convertino's lawyers repeatedly tried to force Free Press reporter David Ashenfelter to reveal his source for the 2004 story about the internal ethics investigation, but he refused.