The judge in the U.S. federal death penalty trial against Zacarias Moussaoui ruled on Friday that prosecutors can seek replacement witnesses for seven Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) employees whose testimony was tainted, and therefore disallowed because of pre-trial coaching by a Transportation Security Administration (TSA) lawyer. The 18-member jury (6 alternates) were sent home for a week while the court dealt with the revelation that government aviation security witness had been contacted prior to the trial by TSA lawyer Carla J. Martin , to help prepare their testimony in the case. Judge Leonie M. Brinkema initially ruled to prevent testimony from any aviation employees, but reversed her decision after the prosecution argued they would have little case left if their testimony remained inadmissible. FAA employee testimoney is expected to take the form of what measures would have been taken by the agency to prevent against the September 11, 2001 airliner attacks in New York City and Washington D.C. if Moussaoui had warned officials of the plan prior to the strikes. Defense attorney Edward B. MacMahon said that Moussaoui "aspires to martyrdom," and called on jurors to deny the Al-Qaeda operative his wish to die. A wish that would result in him becoming "a smiling face on a recruiting poster for Osama bin Laden ," MacMahon said. Moussaoui is believed by some to be the missing member in the team of 19 other attackers that carried out the suicide airliner strikes in New York City and Washington D.C. Arrested in Minnesota on immigration charges three weeks prior to the attacks, Moussaoui could have warned officials of the pending attacks, but failed to do so, argued Assistant U.S. Attorney Rob Spencer for the prosecution in opening statements. Family members of the nearly 3,000 killed in the attacks were able to watch the Alexandria , Virginia courtroom proceedings by closed-circuit television in six U.S. cities: New York, Boston, Central Islip, N.Y., Newark , N.J., and Philadelphia.
The judge in the U.S. federal death penalty trial against ruled on Friday that prosecutors can seek replacement witnesses for seven (FAA) employees whose testimony was tainted, and therefore disallowed because of pre-trial coaching by a (TSA) lawyer. The 18-member jury (6 alternates) were sent home for a week while the court dealt with the revelation that government aviation security witness had been contacted prior to the trial by TSA lawyer , to help prepare their testimony in the case. Judge initially ruled to prevent testimony from any aviation employees, but reversed her decision after the prosecution argued they would have little case left if their testimony remained inadmissible. FAA employee testimoney is expected to take the form of what measures would have been taken by the agency to prevent against the airliner attacks in and if Moussaoui had warned officials of the plan prior to the strikes. Defense attorney Edward B. MacMahon said that Moussaoui "aspires to martyrdom," and called on jurors to deny the operative his wish to die. A wish that would result in him becoming "a smiling face on a recruiting poster for ," MacMahon said. Moussaoui is believed by some to be the missing member in the team of 19 other attackers that carried out the suicide airliner strikes in New York City and Washington D.C. Arrested in on immigration charges three weeks prior to the attacks, Moussaoui could have warned officials of the pending attacks, but failed to do so, argued Assistant U.S. Attorney Rob Spencer for the prosecution in opening statements. Family members of the nearly 3,000 killed in the attacks were able to watch the , Virginia courtroom proceedings by closed-circuit television in six U.S. cities: New York, Boston, Central Islip, N.Y., , N.J., and Philadelphia.
D
Zacarias Moussaoui
D
Federal Aviation Administration
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Transportation Security Administration
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Carla J. Martin
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Leonie M. Brinkema
D
September 11, 2001
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New York City and Washington D.C.
and
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Al-Qaeda
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Osama bin Laden
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Minnesota
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Alexandria
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Newark