...where the guy flipped a quarter which stood on it's side. Gained the power to be able to hear other people's thoughts. Overhead the security guard at the bank planning a robbery of the bank. Turns out the security guard had been dreaming of robbing the bank for years, but never actually did anything about it.

Well, if we're gonna arrest all those people who dream and scheme of doing us harm, we're gonna have to get busy arrested 'em.

As for whether for your hypothesis:

I just wanna know how it is that the "detainee" is responsible for "the deaths of thousands of people" before the act (presumably the act that was responsible for the deaths of said thousands of people) actually took place. Now were prescient as well as omnipotent! I love this country!

Don't have to look very far for this one - Jose Padilla comes to mind. Been imprisoned for a couple of years, and I think they're gonna get around to charging him. If they had their way, however, they'd of just locked him up without ever going to trial. Some silly appellate judge (probably influenced by that terrorist aiding ACLU) made them actually go through the motions. We all know he's guilty, so the incarceration is bound to be justified.