Posted on 03/17/2006 3:51:41 AM PST by flattorney
- - Lawyers offer motive in 9/11 trial tampering
WASHINGTON -- Lawyers for two airlines being sued for damages by Sept. 11 victims prompted a federal lawyer to coach witnesses in the trial of Al Qaeda conspirator Zacarias Moussaoui so the government's death penalty case would not undercut their defense, victims' lawyers allege.
The victims' lawyers, Robert Clifford and Gregory Joseph, claim that one of the airline lawyers forwarded a transcript from the first day of the Moussaoui trial to Transportation Security Administration lawyer Carla Martin.
In violation of an order by Moussaoui trial Judge Leonie Brinkema, Martin forwarded that day's transcript to seven federal aviation officials scheduled to testify later in the sentencing trial of the 37-year-old Frenchman, who earlier pleaded guilty to conspiring with the Sept. 11 hijackers.
Martin's e-mailing of the transcript and her efforts to shape their testimony prompted Brinkema to toss out half the government's case against Moussaoui as contaminated beyond repair.
The contacts between lawyers for United and American Airlines and Martin were detailed in a brief filed on Moussaoui's behalf Thursday. The brief contained a March 15 letter from Clifford and Joseph complaining about Martin's actions to U.S. District Judge Alvin Hellerstein, who is presiding over the civil case in New York.
They wrote Hellerstein that the government's opening statement in the Moussaoui case "took the position that the hijackings were completely preventable and that gate security measures could have been implemented to prevent the 9/11 hijackers from boarding the planes had security been on the lookout for short-bladed knives and boxcutters."
"This stands in stark contrast to the position that has been repeatedly articulated by counsel to the aviation defendants in the September 11 actions."
Because that government position could have "devastating" impact on the airlines' defense in the lawsuit, American Airlines' lawyer forwarded the transcript to a United Airlines lawyer who forwarded it to Martin, Clifford and Joseph wrote. As proof, they cited March 7 e-mails that they provided to Hellerstein but which were not immediately available here.
"The TSA lawyer then forwarded the transcripts and sent multiple e-mails to government witnesses in a clear effort to shape their testimony in a manner that would be beneficial to the aviation defendants" in the lawsuit, they wrote.
Asked about the allegations by Clifford and Joseph, United spokeswoman Robin Urbanski said, "Our actions have been entirely appropriate, as have those of our outside counsel."
American Airlines did not immediately return a phone message seeking comment.
Contacted after midnight, Martin's attorney, Roscoe Howard, said he not heard of the New York lawsuit or the letter from Clifford and Joseph.
Martin, a former flight attendant who finished law school at 36, is "really completely torn up," said her mother, Jean Martin Lay. "How could it happen?"
Even before she began to practice, she worked for the FAA. There, her mother said, she was involved in two prominent terrorism cases: the suit by the families of Pan Am Flight 103, which blew up over Lockerbie, Scotland, in 1988, and the prosecution of Richard Reid, who tried to blow up a jet with a bomb in his shoe over the Atlantic in December 2001. Shortly after the Sept. 11 attacks, Martin went to work for the new TSA.
Lawyers question TSA attorney's contacts in 9/11 suit
By Phil Hirschkorn - CNN
Mar 17, 2006WASHINGTON (CNN) -- The government lawyer blamed for damaging prosecutors' case against Zacarias Moussaoui might be a factor in another September 11 case, attorneys for victims' families say.
E-mails used to show that Carla Martin had coached government witnesses in the Moussaoui trial also expose an "incestuous and inappropriate relationship" between the Transportation Security Administration and airlines, say attorneys for families of some victims. ...
In the civil case, the plaintiffs' attorneys contend the e-mail chain released this week in the Moussaoui trial shows Martin had a chummy relationship with attorneys from American and United airlines and suggests witnesses in the civil case may also have been subjected to improper coaching. ...
But attorneys for the airlines argue in the civil case that their clients aren't liable for the deaths because security measures in place then couldn't have prevented the hijackings. ...
The e-mails "cast doubt on the impartiality" of the TSA's handling of security documents at the center of the Septmber 11 suits, the attorneys said.
Joseph and Clifford have asked Hellerstein to order the TSA counsel's office, where Martin worked until she was placed on leave with pay this week, to disclose all its communications with the airlines counsel and "inquire into the mutual back scratching relationship that appears to exist between the defendants and the TSA."
The TSA declined to comment.
By DAVID B. CARUSO - Associated Press Writer
March 17, 2006, 5:34 PM ESTNEW YORK -- A federal judge overseeing civil lawsuits related to the Sept. 11 attacks refused Friday to investigate whether those cases may have been tainted by a government attorney whose actions have come under scrutiny in the Zacarias Moussaoui trial.
Judge turns down tampering probe in 9/11 civil case -- Newsday.com
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