Moussaoui Trial - Angry Judge May Deny Death Penalty

[RedOnce]

Judge May Deny Death Penalty in Moussaoui Trial

By NEIL A. LEWIS
and MATTHEW L. WALD
Published: March 13, 2006

New York Times


ALEXANDRIA, Va., March 13 — An angry federal judge put the sentencing trial of Zacarias Moussaoui on hold today and said she was considering ending the prosecution's bid to have him executed following a disclosure that a government lawyer had improperly coached some witnesses.

Judge Leonie M. Brinkema said that she had just learned that a lawyer for the Transportation Security Administration gave portions of last week's trial proceedings to seven witnesses who have yet to testify. In e-mail messages, the lawyer also seemed to tell some of the witnesses how they should testify to bolster the prosecution's argument that Mr. Moussaoui bore some responsibility for the deaths from the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.

"In all my years on the bench, I've never seen a more egregious violation of the rule about witnesses," Judge Brinkema said before sending the jury home for two days. She said that the actions of the government lawyer, identified in court papers as Carla J. Martin, would make it "very difficult for this case to go forward."

According to the filings, Ms. Martin sent e-mail messages to the seven witnesses, all current or former government aviation officials. In most of her messages, Ms. Martin included the transcript of the opening trial statements along with her criticism that prosecutors had, in her view, "created a credibility gap that the defense can drive a truck through." She also included portions of a transcript of the testimony of an F.B.I. agent, who first said last Tuesday that the Federal Bureau of Investigation was not looking at the possibility before Sept. 11 that terrorists might use airplanes as weapons. But the agent, Michael Anticev, acknowledged under cross-examination that the bureau had indeed known of earlier Al Qaeda plans to fly planes into the C.I.A. headquarters in Langley, Va., and into the Eiffel Tower. She suggested ways that the witnesses not repeat that mistake.

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/03/13/national/13cnd-moussaoui.html?ex=1299906000&en=5bd97a50d953b412&ei=5088&partner=rssnyt&emc=rss

[Dogmudgeon]

1. How could the Feds have screwed this one up?

Moussaoui copped to it. I am personally anti-DP, but if anyone was going to the Death House, I thought it would be Moussaoui.

What is wrong with this Administration?

--p!

[Warren Stupidity]

4. Copped to what?

He admitted that he was taking flying lessons at the direction of alqaeda and that he knew nothing about the 9-11 plans. He also has been visibly unstable, held in isolation for five years, has been subjected to a rather sordid history of judicial misconduct by the government, including this latest fiasco which is par for the course, has had dubious legal counsel (mostly because of his own instability) and was in our custody before 9-11. So he is deserving of being executed for exactly what? There is no evidence at all that he knew anything about or was a participant in any way in the 9-11 attack.

[uppityperson]

2. administrations arrogance shows up again.I don't think he should get death

Not the death penalty.

[spindrifter]

3. Hahaha!

They haven't been doing too well on their prosecutions of so-called terrorists. Judge Brinkema has had a lot of issues with the govt's case--whether the d.p. is appropriate when the person did not actually do anything that directly resulted in death. I think she believes that under the circumstances of Moussaoui's case a life sentence is an adequate and appropriate penalty.