Angry judge halts 9/11 man's death penalty trial

AN angry federal judge has unexpectedly recessed the death penalty trial of confessed al-Qaida conspirator Zacarias Moussaoui.

US District Judge Leonie Brinkema is to consider whether US government violations of her rules against coaching witnesses should remove the death penalty as an option.

The stunning development came at the opening of the fifth day of the trial after the government informed the judge and the defence that a lawyer for the Federal Aviation Administration had coached four government FAA witnesses in violation of the rule set by Judge Brinkema. The rule was that no witness should hear trial testimony in advance.

"This is the second significant error by the government affecting the constitutional rights of the defendant and the criminal justice system in this country in the context of a death case," Judge Brinkema told lawyers in the case outside the presence of the jury.

Defence attorney Edward MacMahon moved to have the judge dismiss the death penalty as a possible outcome, saying "this is not going to be a fair trial". In the alternative, he said, at least she should excuse the government's FAA witnesses from the case.

Prosecutor David Novak replied that removing the FAA witnesses would "exclude half the Government's case". Mr Novak suggested instead that the problem could be fixed by a vigorous cross-examination by the defence. However, Judge Brinkema said she would need time to study what to do.

"In all the years I've been on the bench, I have never seen such an egregious violation of a rule on witnesses," she said.

Moussaoui is the only person charged in the US with the 9/11 attacks. He pleaded guilty in April 2005 to conspiring with al-Qaida to hijack planes and other crimes, but he denies any role in 9/11. He says he was training for a possible future attack.

Judge Brinkema noted that last Thursday Mr Novak has suggested Moussaoui might have had some responsibility to go to the FBI, after he got a lawyer, and then confess his terrorist ties. She ruled this question out of order after the defence said the question should result in a mistrial.

Judge Brinkema warned the government at that point that it was treading on shaky legal ground, because she said she knew of no case where a failure to act resulted in a death penalty as a matter of law.

Even prosecutor Mr Novak conceded that the witness coaching was "horrendously wrong".

To obtain the death penalty, prosecutors would have to prove that Moussaoui's actions were directly responsible for at least one death on September 11.