Promoted by Steven D.
Briefly, for those of you still following, via TalkLeft:
Judge Warns Prosecutors in Moussaoui Trial
“I must warn the government it is treading on delicate legal ground here,” U.S. District Judge Leonie Brinkema said at the conclusion of the day’s testimony, after the jury had left the courtroom. “I don’t know of any case where a failure to act is sufficient for the death penalty as a matter of law.”
The key issue in Moussaoui’s sentencing trial has been his failure to disclose his terrorist ties to federal agents when he was arrested in August 2001 on immigration violations. {snip}
Both sides agree Moussaoui lied to the FBI, but they differ on what Moussaoui was legally obliged to do given the Fifth Amendment’s guarantee against self-incrimination. Prosecutors argue that once Moussaoui agreed to talk to federal agents, he was required to tell the truth – to confess his ties to al-Qaida and his plans to fly an airplane into the White House.
The defense argues Moussaoui was not required to confess.
The issue is crucial because, to obtain the death penalty, prosecutors must prove that federal agents would have prevented at least one death on Sept. 11 if Moussaoui had not lied. Their case would be much easier if that means Moussaoui also was obligated to disclose his al-Qaida membership and terrorist training. {snip}
Brinkema made her comments as she rejected a defense motion for a mistrial. Moussaoui’s lawyers were angry because they believed a question from prosecutor David Novak implied to the jury that Moussaoui had an obligation to speak to FBI agents even after Moussaoui had invoked his right to a lawyer two days into questioning by the FBI. Agents immediately stopped questioning him at that point.
Brinkema said she did not feel a mistrial was warranted because she struck Novak’s question from the record as soon as he asked it.
The DoJ’s overreach here is astounding. The implications of their argument for the death penalty in this case is plain scary. In the prosecutor’s words from his opening statement, “He lied, and 3,000 people died” & so must be murdered by the State, despite there being no evidence that Moussaoui knew about or participated in the 9/11 attacks, or had any direct contact with the 19 hijackers. As Jeralynn points out, Michael Fortier, who had demonstrable foreknowledge of the Oaklahoma City bombing, received only 12 years.
