US: A US federal judge yesterday put the death penalty trial against 9/11 conspirator Zacarias Moussaoui on hold for two days while she decided whether it should continue after a government lawyer violated a rule on sharing information with witnesses.
"In all the years I've been on the bench, I've never seen such an egregious violation of the court's rule on witnesses," US District Judge Leonie Brinkema said.
Judge Brinkema recessed the court in Alexandria, Virginia, for about 90 minutes then returned and said she had decided to put the trial on hold until at least tomorrow because she needed more time to decide whether or not to dismiss the case.
"It is very difficult for this case to go forward," she said before calling the jury in to explain what was happening with the trial. She told the jury to reconvene tomorrow morning.
Judge Brinkema gave few details of the problem to the jury, saying only that there was a violation of a court order.
She said she needed more time to decide whether to dismiss the government's request for a death sentence for Moussaoui, who last year pleaded guilty to conspiracy in connection with the 9/11 attacks, and instead sentence him to life in prison.
In a discussion in court without the jury present, Judge Brinkema said a government lawyer had violated the rule by reading the transcript of the first day of the trial and discussing the case with several potential witnesses who were due to be called by both the prosecution and the defence.
The defence already had requested a mistrial following an error by the government during the questioning of an FBI witness.
"This is the second significant error by the government affecting the constitutional rights of this defendant," Judge Brinkema said. "More importantly, it affects the integrity of the criminal justice system of the United States."
The sentencing trial started on March 6th and was expected to last up to three months.