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| Talk about a HUGE screwup. Or was it.... |
ETWolverine |
03/15/06 |
The death penalty case against Zacharias Moussaoui may be dead in the water.
This case was, in my opinion, a no-brainer. The guy deserves the death penalty, and the evidence to give him a death sentence is there. But trust a lawyer to screw the whole thing up.
From today's NY Post:
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HOW 'HELPFUL' FED LAWYER BLEW IT BIG-TIME
By ANDY GELLER
March 15, 2006 -- The lawyer whose massive bungling may have blown the death-penalty case against Zacarias Moussaoui has worked on security issues for much of her 19 years in government.
Carla Martin - the $120,000-a-year Transportation Security Administration lawyer at the center of the storm of shocking courtroom gaffes by the feds - actually thought she was helping.
But she only succeeded in getting half the government's case thrown out.
Martin, 51, who has worked for the TSA for four years and for the FAA for 15 years before that, was an FAA attorney at the 1992 Pan Am 103 trial. Colleagues say she is passionate about security issues.
The sorry spectacle began when Martin heard the prosecution's opening statement at Moussaoui's sentencing trial.
She thought the statement "created a credibility gap that the defense can drive a truck through."
So the clueless lawyer decided to act on her own.
One of Martin's whale-sized blunders was e-mailing transcripts of the opening statements and testimony by FBI Agent Michael Anticev to seven Federal Aviation Administration officials who were to appear as witnesses.
Martin, a graduate of the Washington College of Law, wanted to make sure the officials emphasized that the feds could have foiled 9/11 if Moussaoui had spilled the beans on the plot when he was arrested three weeks before the terror attacks.
But her action violated federal Judge Leonie Brinkema's order that people scheduled to testify not be given access to transcripts by prior witnesses. She barred testimony from the officials.
andy.geller@nypost.com
http://www.nypost.com/news/nationalnews/65321.htm
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Hmmm, I wonder...
The Washington College of Law is not exactly known as a bastion of conservative thinking. The school offers symposia on such topics as:
~ King George or Commander in Chief? President Bush’s Theory of Executive Power and the Constitution,
~ War Crimes, Military Accountability and Civilian Contractors,
~ The Washington College of Law’s Feminist Roots: How Far Have We Come? A Focus on Feminist Legal Pioneers Today,
and more.
I wonder if Ms. Martin might be anti-death penalty and (ab)used her powers as an attorney involved in the case to kill the chances for the death penalty to be applied?
Any opinions?
Elliot |
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