You have a defendant accused of planning and assisting in executing the 9-11 attacks. You have international media scrutinizing your every move. You have argued that this monster should received the death penalty for intentionally misleading the government so as to help the attacks go forward. You're the government seeking retribution for the deaths of thousands, you have an unsympathetic defendant, an emotional jury case...and you possibly just blew it.
The federal judge presiding over the case of "20th highjacker" Zaccarias Moussaoui is deliberating right now whether to take the death penalty off the table. Prosecutorial misconduct today possibly pulled the death penalty off the table--and jeopardized the entire case:
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.
The judge warned the government ahead of time that the four FAA witness, central to the government's case, could not coached by being exposed to trial testimony which already was given in the trial. The purpose of this rule is clear: the testimony given should be unadulterated and not biased by hearing what other government testified to. The federal government was well aware of the rule, yet over the weekend, it revealed it had coached four critical witnesses by exposing them to that testimony. The rules were also violated by giving these witnesses copies of the opening statements. Defense counsel moved for a mistrial, or, in the alternative, to exclude the FAA witness testimony. The violation of the rules was so egregious, the judge may take the death penalty off the table, exclude the witnesses and take away half the government's case, or dismiss the death penalty case. It's unclear when or how the judge will rule on the motion. This isn't the first time the government has jeopardized its case; earlier this week, the judge warned the government it was on shaky legal ground in its questioning.
(diary on the news by incertus)
Update [2006-3-13 12:47:20 by georgia10]:: Thanks to the comments below for pointing out that the judge will not dismiss the entire case, but may rule on whether to take the death penalty off the table. Would've posted an update sooner but the site is soooo slow.