More On Misconduct in Moussaoui Trial

The judge in the Moussaoui sentencing trial is proclaiming that the misconduct on the part of a government lawyer is one of historic proportion yet did not take the death penalty off the table in the case.

A judge barred key government witnesses from testifying at the death penalty trial of Sept. 11 conspirator Zacarias Moussaoui, ruling yesterday that the misconduct of a federal lawyer had so tainted the proceeding that all evidence concerning aviation security must be stricken...

U.S. District Judge Leonie M. Brinkema issued her ruling at the close of an extraordinary hearing in Alexandria that centered on the conduct of Carla J. Martin, 51, a Transportation Security Administration lawyer who improperly shared testimony and communicated with seven witnesses. New evidence emerged that Martin was heavily involved in the case and had committed what Brinkema called other "egregious errors."

The most serious was telling a prosecutor that witnesses sought by defense attorneys had refused to meet with them. Relying on Martin's contact with the witnesses, prosecutor David J. Novak relayed the information to the defense. After hearing from those witnesses yesterday, Brinkema called Martin's information "a baldfaced lie."...

Yesterday's hearing featured only a brief appearance by the woman at the center of the controversy. Brinkema warned Martin that she could be held in criminal or civil contempt. In an unusual move, the judge read Martin a version of the Miranda warning given by police to criminal suspects as she took the stand at the start of the hearing.

Speaking agitatedly, Martin said she "very much" wanted to testify but that it was an "adversarial proceeding" and that she needed a lawyer. With that, Martin left the courtroom and did not return. Her attorney, Roscoe C. Howard Jr., later told the judge that Martin would not be available to testify. Howard, a former U.S. attorney in the District, declined to comment...

The judge placed Martin's conduct, combined with other errors in the oft-delayed case, in historic terms. "I don't think in the annals of criminal law there has ever been a case with this many significant problems," she told a packed courtroom.

Judges throw out cases every day in this country for far less blatant errors, but she is not even taking the death penalty option away.

Looks like the outcome has long been preordained.

Speaking of minds already made up, here is a case of someone who has pre-judged the Martin misconduct:

D. Hamilton Petersen said he would like to hear Martin's side of the story before he makes any judgments. "We need to give Carla Martin an opportunity to explain herself," he said in a telephone interview. "While it was a gaffe, it was not nefarious, and it was not done by the darkness of night. To err is human, and we need to get the facts, in fairness to Miss Martin." Peterson's father, Donald A. Peterson, and his stepmother, Jean H. Peterson, were killed when United Airlines Flight 93 crashed in western Pennsylvania.

How does this jerkoff know that it was "a gaffe, it was not nefarious"? The facts at hand argue precisely the opposite.

Such credulity towards government statements and actions since 9-11 is a big reason that the Bush administration has been able to get away (so far) with the malfeasance that is making the United States a pariah on the world stage.

If more citizens would hold the government to account for it's willful wrongdoing, the nation would be far better off in the long run.

These "errors" are adding up, and will take many years to be forgotten by everyone except Americans.

Chronic forgetfulness is a wonderful tonic for a bad conscience.