Word: moussaoui
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...Zacarias Moussaoui for the defense? The alleged 20th hijacker's bid to fire his lawyers and represent himself, which must be granted unless he's found mentally incompetent, would mean major headaches for prosecutors if it's successful, say sources familiar with the government's view of the case. Prosecutors at a hearing last week said they were worried about "subtly coded messages" that Moussaoui might send from prison through intermediaries. If Moussaoui is allowed to be his own lawyer, he could send signals, coded or not, with journalists present. "They have to worry about what comes...
There are also concerns about the classified materials that the government was sharing with Moussaoui's defense lawyers, who, unlike their client, had been cleared to receive them. If Moussaoui is his own lawyer, he could argue that he must have access to those documents to mount an effective defense...
Overall, "the government and the court will have to bend over backwards" to help Moussaoui out of fear of violating his rights and being overturned on appeal, said a government lawyer. "It becomes very bizarre," he said, "but you don't want to execute people who don't get a fair shot." Washington defense lawyer Richard Sauber was more blunt, saying, "It's a nightmare for prosecutors...
Have prosecutors managed to get any information out of Zacarias Moussaoui, the accused "20th hijacker"? In the weeks since he was charged with conspiracy, it appears they have hardly tried. Sources close to the case tell TIME that federal prosecutors haven't pressured the alleged terrorist, who is now behind bars in Alexandria, Va., to find out what he knows about the Sept. 11 terror plot. Capital punishment is often used as a threat to extract information, but the government has not played that card since charging Moussaoui in December, the sources say. "They know there are others out there...
Meanwhile, prosecutors have begun turning over mountains of discovery material to Moussaoui's lawyers. Among the items: 250 CD-ROMS containing items like a photo of gum wrappers, gathered from someplace Moussaoui had been; an 80-gigabyte hard drive from the University of Oklahoma (Moussaoui sometimes sent e-mails from computers there, but rather than just his e-mails, the entire student-union hard drive was delivered), and 13 hard drives from other locations. It's just a fraction of what defense lawyers will have to sift through by the time the trial starts next fall...