Posted on 02/01/2008 3:36:24 PM PST by SmithL
The judge who presided over Zacarias Moussaoui's trial questioned the government's decision to seek a death sentence against the Sept. 11 conspirator, and offered a strong defense of federal courts' ability to handle terror trials.
U.S. District Judge Leonie Brinkema said in a speech Friday at the American University law school that the government's decision to seek a death sentence against Moussaoui appeared to be politically motivated, and that the zealous pursuit of a death sentence opened up numerous issues of exposing classified information that otherwise could have been avoided.
"The war on terror is an important piece of political leverage," Brinkema said. "Don't lose sight of the political realities."
Because the trial was a capital case, Moussaoui was allowed access to a wide array of evidence that would have been irrelevant in a non-capital case, including statements from captured al-Qaida leaders that Moussaoui was at best a bit player in their plans.
The court struggled for nearly two years in trying to balance Moussaoui's right to have access to those witnesses with the government's right to continue its ongoing interrogations of those witnesses, including Sept. 11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, without interruption. Eventually the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ordered that summaries of the men's statements be prepared for trial without allowing defense depositions.
At one point Brinkema barred the government from pursuing the death penalty as a sanction for its refusal to make key witnesses available, although an appellate court later lifted that sanction.
Moussaoui pleaded guilty in 2005 to conspiring with al-Qaida to hijack aircraft, among other crimes. In a 2006 sentencing trial, a jury concluded that Moussaoui's actions furthered the Sept. 11 plot. But the jury ultimately decided to spare his life and sentence him to life in prison.
(Excerpt) Read more at sfgate.com ...
This judge has been smoking some serious weed.
We barely got a conviction of this clown.
Should we do this 500 more times?
TruTV must be putting her up to this.
The suggestion that we not seek to exterminate these murderous vermin from the entire planet is traitorous as it’s base value...
This illustrates why the courts should NOT be involved in matters of WAR.
The judicial...ursurping power from the executive....
Yo clown in black robes. You are supposed to be concerned with the Law, not the politics of your case.
“. . . viaSFGate”
I stopped reading there.
You do understand the SFGate is one of many sites with an AP news feed, don't you? San Francisco Chronicle had absolutely nothing to do with writing this AP story.
I’ve always felt that killing these people in the field is the best option. Look at all the opposition to Gitmo. And all the expense of trying these guys.
Can you imagine the circus if we captured bin Laden?
This is wartime, and they aren’t citizens. Set up military tribunals and be done with it.
People walk around acting like war has NEVER happened to us. It worked then, it will work now.
They aren’t entitled to due process under the law. They are entitled to their rights under the Geneva Convention.
AP, SF Gate, what’s the frickin’ difference.
Please.
So how long did it take, and how much did it cost? If we did this for every captured German in WWII the trails would still be going on. These, mostly Clintonite, affirmative action judges are a fifth column in this war.
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