Judge refuses to set trial date for Moussaoui
/A federal judge said on Thursday that she
will not set a trial date for alleged Al-Qaida conspirator Zacarias
Moussaoui until the Supreme Court considers a defense appeal seeking to
strike the death penalty. Prosecutors had asked District Judge Leonie
Brinkema to set a May 31 trial date now that a federal appeals court
has denied Moussaoui's demands to question three Al-Qaida captives. The
appeals court agreed that the Al-Qaida figures' statements to U.S.
intelligence agents would likely buttress Moussaoui's assertion that he
knew nothing about the Sept. 11 attacks. But the court ordered Brinkema
to draft substitutes from classified summaries of their statements for
use at trial. Moussaoui's lawyers are preparing a petition asking the
Supreme Court to bar prosecutors from seeking the death penalty if
Moussaoui is denied access to favorable witnesses. [more]
