Government 9-11 Documents To Be Given To Victims' Families
The families of 9-11 victims who chose not to accept the government's "deal or no deal" settlement have won what could conceivably be a major victory in the discovery phase of their lawsuits over the deaths of their loved ones.
The judge overseeing the death penalty trial of Zacarias Moussaoui yesterday ordered prosecutors to provide hundreds of thousands of government documents generated as evidence in the case to lawyers representing families of victims of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.
U.S. District Judge Leonie M. Brinkema issued the order in connection with a civil lawsuit filed by the families against the aviation industry, alleging that it failed to prevent the attacks. The civil case is pending in New York...
But attorneys for the victims came to Brinkema's Alexandria courtroom yesterday because, they said, she had the authority to order the disclosure of documents that have been turned over to Moussaoui's defense team. The plaintiffs' attorneys said they believed the documents, which they have been unable to obtain from the government, will help them show in the civil case that the airline industry knew about the risks of airline hijackings before Sept. 11 but failed to act...
The judge ordered the government to give the civil lawyers all the unclassified materials provided to Moussaoui's defense...
It is unclear what is in the documents or how many there are, although prosecutors indicated at the hearing yesterday that they gave Moussaoui's attorneys hundreds of thousands of FBI reports alone.
Unfortunately, any really spooky information will never have been committed to paper.
No doubt a team of diligent researchers could find some gems lurking in the mass of files, but any document that could really shed light on the 9-11 morass would be classified--and not subject to the judge's ruling.
In any case, I have a feeling that Judge Brinkema's ruling here will be successfully appealed.
The judge overseeing the death penalty trial of Zacarias Moussaoui yesterday ordered prosecutors to provide hundreds of thousands of government documents generated as evidence in the case to lawyers representing families of victims of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.
U.S. District Judge Leonie M. Brinkema issued the order in connection with a civil lawsuit filed by the families against the aviation industry, alleging that it failed to prevent the attacks. The civil case is pending in New York...
But attorneys for the victims came to Brinkema's Alexandria courtroom yesterday because, they said, she had the authority to order the disclosure of documents that have been turned over to Moussaoui's defense team. The plaintiffs' attorneys said they believed the documents, which they have been unable to obtain from the government, will help them show in the civil case that the airline industry knew about the risks of airline hijackings before Sept. 11 but failed to act...
The judge ordered the government to give the civil lawyers all the unclassified materials provided to Moussaoui's defense...
It is unclear what is in the documents or how many there are, although prosecutors indicated at the hearing yesterday that they gave Moussaoui's attorneys hundreds of thousands of FBI reports alone.
Unfortunately, any really spooky information will never have been committed to paper.
No doubt a team of diligent researchers could find some gems lurking in the mass of files, but any document that could really shed light on the 9-11 morass would be classified--and not subject to the judge's ruling.
In any case, I have a feeling that Judge Brinkema's ruling here will be successfully appealed.
posted by Effwit at 9:57 AM
2 Comments:
This is a HUGE story. All the people who don't believe any of the many versions of the "official 9/11" story should raise their voices to DC when our government appeals Judge Brinkema's order to hand over the documents. Before that the defendant's attorneys should copy them and give them to the 9/11 families attorneys (and to a news outlet that would publish them, a la The Pentagon Papers, before the Fed. Appellate Court takes the case and rules for the govt.
Susan:
Fine idea. As you say, they would have to move quick on such an action.
That would expose what must be literally tons of documents to enough curious eyeballs that any salacious details concealed (even if between the lines) might have a better chance of being revealed.
That is, of cource, if the documents have not been already sanitized before being presented to the Moussaoui court in Alexandria.
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