Word is just out that Judge Brinkema will allow the Moussaoui trial to continue.
http://news.yahoo.com/...
IMHO, this gives the lie to the assertions that Brinkema is a "good judge" and much less that justice is being done here.
More below the fold. . .
Brinkema has bent over backwards to allow this judicial hanging to go forward. As bad a cat as Mousssaoui is, he obviously has a screw loose, and the judge never should have allowed his guilty plea to begin with.
It is obvious that Moussaoui has pled guilty to something other than what he is being tried for. There is no evidence that he was a conspirator in the 9/11 atrocities, and with out some evidence of conspiracy, there is no way he should be on trial for his life. Obstruction of justice? Sure. Some sort of aggression against the US? Why not.
But this is just judicial vengeance because we have been unable to run to earth any of the real conspirators. Besides the 19 who died in the crashes on 9/11, there have to be a number of people who were involved in the plans for this cowardly act. They are still on the loose in Europe and Asia. Bring 'em back dead or alive W has failed here as he has in so many other instances.
Moussaoui is our enemy and obviously hates us. Butwe lessen ourselves, as the Justice Department has done here, in violating basic tenets of criminal law, to take revenge on someone who was not directly involved.
Instead of making this man a scapegoat, why not go after Osama and the people who were really behind this?
Update--Reuters reports that the Judge is going to go ahead with the trial without having directly questioned government lawyer Carla Martin, whom the Judge says she can't trust:
Prosecutor Rob Spencer immediately told the judge the government objected to excluding all testimony and exhibits about aviation security and would consider appealing her ruling.
Meantime, Brinkema announced that Martin's attorney, Roscoe Howard, had told her by phone that his client was not available to testify Tuesday or Wednesday.
Brinkema decided not to hold up her ruling or the trial and told the court that it would resume its normal trial schedule Wednesday morning with the jury back in the courtroom.
Additionally, this shows the prosecutors again tring to bully Brinkema by threatening to appeal her rulings, as they have through out this charade. Lawyers have an obligation to only attempt manuevers that are according to law or represent a reasonable extension of the law. Here no lawyer in his/her right mind would think that Brinkema's ruling is properly appealable.
In fact, the Department of Justice has shown itself to be contemptuous of the judicial process throughout this trial.