But with both the C.I.A. captives and more important Guantánamo detainees, interrogation was given priority over prosecution, officials said.
Lawyers said the ruling set the stage for new challenges that could slow even the administration's highest priority Guantánamo prosecution, against six detainees for the 2001 terrorist attacks.
It's up to the Attorney General to decide which crimes to make a priority for prosecution.
"If a financial institution or individual offers services to a marijuana-related business whose activities do not implicate any of the eight priority factors, prosecution for those offenses may not be appropriate," Deputy Attorney General James Cole wrote in the memo, which was sent to federal prosecutors across the country on Friday.
The industry didn't really take off until October 2009 when US Attorney General Eric Holder circulated a memo written by then Deputy Attorney General David W. Ogden, which suggested that medical marijuana enterprises that were compliant with state-level regulation would be a low priority for prosecution by the federal government.
The person at the top sets the tone and priorities for prosecution, both civil and criminal, cases that make headlines only if they're extreme.
"Our second priority is criminal prosecution for the traffickers.
Gen. Thomas W. Hartmann, from any further role in a Guant?mo war crimes case set the stage for new challenges that could slow even the administration's highest priority Guant?mo prosecution, against six detainees for the 2001 terrorist attacks, defense lawyers say.
The US government's prosecution priorities – pot-related gang activity, violence, sales to kids and trafficking – continue, she said.
Prosecutors also stumbled in other high priority corporate fraud prosecutions, like the KPMG tax shelter and the stock-exchange specialists cases.
