Judge to allow U.S. to seek death penalty

Key prosecution witnesses barred from testifying after being coached

Alexandria, Va. ? The judge in the Zacarias Moussaoui trial dealt a serious blow to the government’s death-penalty case Tuesday, barring roughly half of the prosecutors’ key witnesses because a federal lawyer improperly coached several of them on their testimony.

U.S. District Judge Leonie Brinkema rejected a Moussaoui defense request that she go further and dismiss the government’s death-penalty bid for the al-Qaida conspirator outright. She put off resumption of the trial until Monday to give the government a chance to appeal.

Justice Department spokeswoman Tasia Scolinos said the ruling was being reviewed.

Testimony from the barred witnesses was to make up about half of the government’s case, prosecutors have said.

Brinkema imposed the sanctions after being informed that a lawyer in the federal Transportation Security Administration, Carla Martin, had urged seven witnesses from the Federal Aviation Administration to read trial transcripts and had prepared them for certain questions on cross-examination.

Federal rules of evidence prohibit witnesses from exposure to trial testimony because of the possibility they will alter their testimony based on what they learn. Brinkema detailed the rules in a pretrial order.

Moussaoui is the only person charged in this country in connection with the 9-11 attacks. He pleaded guilty in April to conspiring with al-Qaida to hijack aircraft and other crimes, but he denies any involvement in 9-11, saying he was training for a possible future attack.

The aviation witnesses are key because, to obtain the death penalty, the government must prove that Moussaoui’s actions resulted in at least one death on 9-11. The witnesses were expected to testify that they would have issued alerts and implemented security measures at airports if Moussaoui had revealed his al-Qaida membership when he was arrested and interrogated in August 2001.

Six witnesses who testified at Tuesday’s hearing said Martin’s exhortations would not have affected their testimony. But Brinkema said that wasn’t clear.