Judge mulls dismissing death penalty for Moussaoui

By Deborah Charles

ALEXANDRIA, Virginia (Reuters) – A federal judge on Monday
put the death penalty case against September 11 conspirator
Zacarias Moussaoui on hold for two days while she decided
whether it should continue after a government lawyer violated a
rule on sharing information with witnesses.

“In all the years I’ve been on the bench, I’ve never seen
such an egregious violation of the court’s rule on witnesses,”
U.S. District Judge Leonie Brinkema said.

Brinkema recessed the court for about 90 minutes then
returned and said she had decided to put the trial on hold
until at least Wednesday because she said she needed more time
to decide whether or not to dismiss the case.

“It is very difficult for this case to go forward,” she
said before calling the jury in to explain what was happening
with the trial. She told the jury to reconvene on Wednesday
morning.

Brinkema gave few details of the problem to the jury,
saying only that there was a violation of a court order.

She said she needed more time to decide whether to dismiss
the government’s request for a death sentence for Moussaoui,
who last year pleaded guilty to conspiracy in connection with
the September 11 attacks, and instead sentence him to life in
prison.

Moussaoui, 37, an admitted al Qaeda member and the only
person convicted in the United States in connection with the
hijackings, is represented by a team of court-appointed
lawyers, which he has repeatedly denounced in court.

He also has cursed America and smiled during accounts of
the four airplanes that were slammed into the World Trade
Center, the Pentagon and a Pennsylvania field, killing nearly
3,000 people.

In a discussion in court without the jury present, Brinkema
said a government lawyer had violated the rule by reading the
transcript of the first day of the trial and discussing the
case with several potential witnesses who were due to be called
by both the prosecution and the defense.

Brinkema said the lawyer, identified only as “Ms. Martin,”
had read transcripts of the opening arguments and discussed
some of the testimony with potential witnesses.

The lawyer was first described as working for the Federal
Aviation Administration but was later described by federal
prosecutors as working for the Transportation Security
Administration. She had been working for the FAA to help
witnesses involved in the Moussaoui trial.

Defense lawyer Edward MacMahon asked Brinkema to rule that
Moussaoui cannot be sentenced to death for his crimes.

“This is not going to be a fair trial,” MacMahon said.

“The proceedings just should be dismissed and Mr. Moussaoui
sentenced to life in prison,” he added.

The defense already had requested a mistrial following an
error by the government during the questioning of an FBI
witness.

“This is the second significant error by the government
affecting the constitutional rights of this defendant,”
Brinkema said. “More importantly, it affects the integrity of
the criminal justice system of the United States.”

The sentencing trial started March 6 and was expected to
last up to three months.