Moussaoui Setback in Supreme Court
Accused 9/11 defendant Zacarias Moussaoui has lost his bid to the Supreme Court to require that 3 alleged 9/11 participants be made available to him for interviews.
The defense has wanted to question Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, the accused mastermind of the Sept. 11 attacks; Mustafa Ahmed al-Hawsawi, viewed as one of the financiers of the hijackings; and Ramzi bin al-Shaibah, who is suspected of coordinating them.
Defense attorneys said testimony from the al Qaeda captives could help prove Moussaoui was not involved in the attacks. The captives have been held as "enemy combatants" and have been interrogated overseas by the United States.
In the Supreme Court appeal, Moussaoui's attorneys said he could not get a fair trial if faced with "a dangerous new loophole" to his constitutional right to call witnesses. "In place of the constitutional protections that have been erected to give a defendant a fair trial, Moussaoui is told to just trust … summaries authored by the government of what it says these witnesses would say," the attorneys said.
Here are the issues raised in the appeal. Previously, the 4th Circuit had ruled (pdf)that although the Government improperly refused to allow Moussaoui to interview witnesses being held as enemy combatants who may be able to show he was not a member of the 9/11 attack conspiracy, the Judge's remedy of preventing the Government from seeking the death penalty was excessive.
I disagree. How can we countenance putting someone to death when the government has witnesses under its control that could provide exculpatory information relevant to a jury's decision on life or death?
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