Posted on 03/16/2006 10:58:14 AM PST by RWR8189
The government considers Zacarias Moussaoui a fitting candidate for execution. He is an admitted terrorist who pleaded guilty last year to being part of the Al Qaeda plot that led to the Sept. 11, 2001, hijackings. He was jailed on unrelated charges weeks before the attacks, but prosecutors contend he could have blown the whistle and prevented the carnage.
A government attorney assisting the prosecution team has now done serious damage to the government's case at Moussaoui's ongoing death-penalty trial. Carla Martin, a lawyer for the Transportation Security Administration, allegedly violated a direct court order by coaching prospective prosecution witnesses and providing them with trial transcripts. In an e-mail to the witnesses, Martin suggested the government case wasn't going well and needed help.
Overzealous government prosecutions pose a serious problem in the criminal justice system. A 1999 Tribune series highlighted how some prosecutors routinely skirt rules and deceive juries with impunity, which has led to reversals on appeal of hundreds of homicide convictions across the nation. Prosecutorial misconduct ill-serves justice. The wrong people get punished. Crimes go unsolved. Survivors are denied closure.
In the Moussaoui case, Martin's alleged witness tampering brought a swift rebuke from presiding Judge Leonie Brinkema. She questioned whether the 37-year-old Moussaoui could now get a fair trial. The breach prompted a daylong hearing Tuesday during which Brinkema accused Martin of deceiving other lawyers in the case with "a baldfaced lie" and warned the lawyer she could face criminal or civil sanctions.
The judge rejected a defense motion to drop the death penalty as a possible punishment. But she all but gutted the government's case for sentencing by ruling that seven federal aviation officials coached by Martin
(Excerpt) Read more at chicagotribune.com ...
What? Iran? Iraq? Saudi Arabia? The USA certainly was never this scum's country.
Awwww, poor baby....
Zacarias Moussaoui (Arabic: ÒßÑíÇ ãæÓæí) (born May 30, 1968) is a French terrorist of Moroccan descent involved in the conspiracy that resulted in the September 11, 2001 attacks. He was taken into custody by the Federal Bureau of Investigation in on August 16, 2001 after attending a flight school in Eagan, Minnesota where an instructor expressed concerns about the abilities and motivations of his student. After the attacks unfolded, he was described as a possible "20th hijacker", though he maintained that he was uninvolved with that plan up until pleading guilty in April 2005 to charges brought against him. He is the only person in the United States to have been charged in connection with the September 11 attacks.
He's French!
Um, nobody seems to have read the article. Rosemary Dillard, whose husband died in the Pentagon attack, says that the U.S. government let her down, not Moussaoui.
This mooselum should have been beaten to death vigilante style while authorities looked the other way. I'd love to drop this SOB off at Washington & Vessey and see what happens.
I think his religion let him down.
Prosecutorial misconduct is very usual.
The only surprising fact is that this judge never noticed it before. Actually I think if the situation had been for the defense she would have ruled it as minimal intrusion.
This "outrage" of the judge is crocodile tears.
"The government's case for execution isn't a slam-dunk,......In April, Moussaoui, a self-professed Al Qaeda member, pleaded guilty to six conspiracy charges connected to the Sept. 11 attacks, including four that could lead to the death penalty....."
Excuse me, but when you plead guilty to four charges that carry the death penalty, doesn't that mean you have a very good chance of getting the death sentence?
This is a Clinton judge.
This is a Clinton judge.
"Excuse me, but when you plead guilty to four charges that carry the death penalty, doesn't that mean you have a very good chance of getting the death sentence?"
Rational people would think so!
"I hope people are doing a thorough, in depth check into Carla Martin's background, affiliations, and political leanings.
"
I totally agree..Something here stinks to me .
What are you talking about? I never heard of Lejes Rimul, so maybe he is a troll, but he's correct that the title of this article is a quote from a woman whose husband died on September 11. She is angry at either the judge or the prosecutors--it isn't clear--for botching this trial.
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