The defense appeared to use Sergeant Stammer's recollections to weaken the testimony of Private Berhe, who provided the prosecution with its strongest link yet between the treatment of Private Chen and his suicide.
According to the charges, the rabbis' fraud took three basic forms: The program paid "phony invoices" from three companies, which the court papers did not identify, for goods and services that were not provided, the prosecution said.
Material like this has been collated and cross-checked by organisations inside and outside Syria trying to compile a history of these violations, one that might at some future point provide the basis for prosecutions of those responsible on both sides, from the lowest to the highest.
"The prosecution will provide the defense with evidence in accordance with the rules for courts-martial and the military rules of evidence," said Maj. Chris Ophardt, an Army spokesman at Joint Base Lewis-McChord, south of Tacoma, Wash., where Sergeant Bales was stationed.
In July, we wrote about an ongoing case wherein a woman accused of fraud was being asked by the prosecution to provide the password to access her computer's data, which otherwise would remain encrypted and unreadable, weakening their case.
Earlier, his lawyers had urged the court not to support "attempts by the prosecution to provide the Sierra Leoneans with this external bogeyman upon whom can be heaped the collective guilt of a nation for its predominantly self-inflicted wounds".
In an unusual move, Mr. McMasters said, he secretly secured a promise from Nathan Tufts, the district attorney where Mr. Grozier lived, to provide the publisher immunity from prosecution "in case the story turned out to be untrue and libelous".
Still, with any luck, they say, tougher and more concerted criminal prosecutions provide the deterrent effect that has been missing so far.
The F.B.I. had completed an investigation of the Mafia that would provide the grist for several major prosecutions.
