« I'll Have the Grande Lawyer, Please |
Main
| Adam Smith, Esq. to your in-box »
Botching a Big Case
The big story in today's legal news is how federal government lawyer Carla Martin may have botched the government's case against the thirteenth 9/11 hijacker, Zacarias Moussaoui. The New York Times has the details in this story, " Lawyer Thrust Into Spotlight After Misstep in Terror Case," March 15, 2006, and lots of bloggers, including Legal Blog Watch's Crime & Federalism, are discussing Judge Brinkema's ruling to exclude testimony from several major government witnesses who were improperly coached by Martin. Among Martin's improprieties, according to the Times, was her decision to e-mail the trial transcripts to seven government witnesses in violation of a court order on sequestration.
There's been no word from Martin on all of this, but my gut reaction is that her violation of the court order stems more from gross incompetence than intentional impropriety. She wasn't a criminal lawyer, just an obscure federal regulatory attorney more familiar with the relaxed procedural requirements of mundane administrative proceedings than Article III court practice. That doesn't mean that I disagree with Brinkema's rulings; incompetence doesn't excuse violation of a court order. But I don't think Martin has to worry about criminal prosecution either.
Posted by Carolyn Elefant on March 15, 2006 at 12:44 PM | Permalink
| Comments (0)
| TrackBack (0)
TrackBack
TrackBack URL for this entry:
http://www.typepad.com/services/trackback/6a00d8341cce2453ef00d8355df62c69e2
Listed below are links to weblogs that reference Botching a Big Case: