| Topic: |
Politics > Politics-USA |
| User: |
"JP" |
| Date: |
13 Mar 2006 10:04:02 AM |
| Object: |
Angry judge puts Moussaoui trial on hold |
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/11808377/
MSNBC.com
Angry judge puts Moussaoui trial on hold
Brinkema says U.S. prosecutors committed 'egregious violation'
The Associated Press
Updated: 10:39 a.m. ET March 13, 2006
ALEXANDRIA, Va. - An angry federal judge unexpectedly recessed the death
penalty trial of confessed al-Qaida conspirator Zacarias Moussaoui to
consider whether government violations of her rules against coaching
witnesses should remove the death penalty as an option.
The stunning development came at the opening of the fifth day of the trial
as the government had informed the judge and the defense over the weekend
that a lawyer for the Federal Aviation Administration had coached four
government FAA witnesses in violation of the rule set by U.S. District Judge
Leonie Brinkema. The rule was that no witness should hear trial testimony in
advance.
"This is the second significant error by the government affecting the
constitutional rights of the defendant and the criminal justice system in
this country in the context of a death case," Brinkema told lawyers in the
case outside the presence of the jury.
Defense attorney Edward MacMahon moved to have the judge dismiss the death
penalty as a possible outcome, saying "this is not going to be a fair
trial." In the alternative, he said, at least she should excuse the
government's FAA witnesses from the case.
Prosecutor David Novak replied that removing the FAA witnesses would
"exclude half the government's case." Novak suggested instead that the
problem could be fixed by a vigorous cross-examination by the defense.
'Egregious violation'
But Brinkema said she would need time to study what to do.
"In all the years I've been on the bench, I have never seen such an
egregious violation of a rule on witnesses," she said.
Moussaoui is the only person charged in this country with the 9/11 attacks.
He pleaded guilty in April 2005 to conspiring with al-Qaida to hijack planes
and other crimes, but he denies any role in 9/11. He says he was training
for a possible future attack.
Brinkema noted that last Thursday, Novak asked a question that she ruled out
of order after the defense said the question should result in a mistrial. In
that question, Novak suggested that Moussaoui might have had some
responsibility to go back to the FBI, after he got a lawyer, and then
confess his terrorist ties.
Brinkema warned the government at that point that it was treading on shaky
legal ground because she said she knew of no case where a failure to act
resulted in a death penalty as a matter of law.
Prosecutor: 'Horrendously wrong'
Even prosecutor Novak conceded that the witness coaching was "horrendously
wrong."
According to descriptions by the lawyers in court, it appeared that a female
FAA attorney who had attended closed hearings in the case went over with
four upcoming witnesses from her agency the opening statements at the trial,
the government's strategy and even the transcript of the questioning of an
FBI agent on the first day.
"She was at the Classified Information Act procedures hearing and she should
have known it was wrong," Novak said.
MacMahon said the government had told the defense she had wanted the
witnesses to be very careful in discussing the FBI agent's acknowledgment
that the FBI knew long before Sept. 11, 2001 that al-Qaida terrorists in the
Philippines were working on a plan to fly an airplane into CIA headquarters.
The FAA attorney also apparently told the witnesses, erroneously Novak said,
that the government was planning to say that magnetometers at airport
check-ins are 100 percent effective.
Novak claimed there was no harm in that disclosure because the government is
not going to make that argument.
Before the trial was recessed by Brinkema, the jury was to hear from the
Minneapolis FBI agent who arrested Moussaoui - perhaps the key witness in
the trial. Special Agent Harry Samit's testimony is equally important to
prosecutors and the defense at Moussaoui's sentencing trial.
Samit, who has already testified for the prosecution, faced
cross-examination by the defense in U.S. District Court.
Prosecutors say that Samit and the FBI would have foiled the Sept. 11
attacks had Moussaoui confessed his membership in the al-Qaida terror
network and his plans to hijack an airplane after he was arrested on Aug.
16, 2001, and interrogated by Samit.
The defense argues that Moussaoui's lies made no difference because Samit
saw through them and was convinced that Moussaoui was a threat.
Up to now the burden of proof was this: To obtain the death penalty,
prosecutors must first prove that Moussaoui's actions - specifically, his
lies- were directly responsible for at least one death on Sept. 11.
© 2006 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be
published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
© 2006 MSNBC.com
URL: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/11808377/
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| User: "Docky Wocky" |
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| Title: Re: Angry judge puts Moussaoui trial on hold |
13 Mar 2006 10:48:45 AM |
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from jp:
"ALEXANDRIA, Va. - An angry federal judge unexpectedly recessed the death
penalty trial of confessed al-Qaida conspirator Zacarias Moussaoui to
consider whether government violations of her rules against coaching
witnesses should remove the death penalty as an option..."
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Ah, looks like they are finally getting the message that the kook Moussaoui
doesn't need to get any further legalese than the press conference
announcing the day and exact time they are going to push him out the door to
the street.
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