Word: brinkema
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Nearly two years later, the government's case, which had been billed as a slam dunk, is a shambles. On Oct. 2, U.S. District Judge Leonie Brinkema said prosecutors could not seek the death penalty for Moussaoui and could not even allege that he had a link to the 9/11 conspiracy. She put those shackles on the government's case because it had denied the defendant, on national-security grounds, access to witnesses who were in a position to say whether he was part of the 9/11 gang--Ramzi Binalshibh, Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and other key al-Qaeda figures...
...April 22, 2002, all parties to the case assembled before Judge Brinkema in Alexandria, Va., for what was supposed to be a routine motion hearing. But when federal public defender Frank Dunham identified himself and co-counsels as present for the defense, Moussaoui jumped in: "No, I am sorry to note they are not anymore my lawyer...
...followed up with a courtroom-rocking, 50-minute discourse in which he prayed for "the destruction of the United States" and "the destruction of the Jewish people and state," accused his court-appointed attorneys of trying to get him executed and said he wanted to be his own lawyer. Brinkema warned him of the consequences, including the fact that he would not have access to the mountain of classified material that his lawyers, who had got security clearances, would be able to use. She then ordered a mental-competency exam, which concluded that he was capable of making the decision...
RULED OUT. The death penalty in the trial of ZACARIAS MOUSSAOUI, 35, self-professed al-Qaeda loyalist and the only defendant to be tried in connection with the Sept. 11 attacks; by U.S. District Judge Leonie Brinkema; in Alexandria, Va. The ruling also barred from the trial any evidence or testimony linking Moussaoui to 9/11. Brinkema said Moussaoui could not get a fair trial after the Justice Department, on national security grounds, refused to allow testimony sought by the defense from other captured suspects. Prosecutors will decide whether to appeal or move the trial to a military tribunal...
...that may push Brinkema to reconsider his competency, a move his former lawyers urge. If she doesn't, says lawyer Edward MacMahon, "this case is heading to Ringling Bros." After Moussaoui boasted that he might open up about the plot--"I know which group, who participated, when it was decided"--some U.S. officials hinted that they might want to make a deal. But others doubted that he could be trusted. Says one: "I've never heard anybody say anything except 'He's off his bean...