C'mon, judges, open your eyes! This judge got a slap in the face!
"Wiretap Issue Leads Judge to Warn of Retrial in Terror Case" by ERIC LICHTBLAU
WASHINGTON, Nov. 20 — A federal judge warned Tuesday that if the government did not allow lawyers to review classified material on possible wiretapping of an Islamic scholar convicted of inciting terrorism, she might order a new trial for him.
The unexpected development is the latest legal complication involving the National Security Agency’s wiretapping program, which has produced challenges from criminal defendants as well as civil lawsuits against the government and phone carriers.
Lawyers for Ali al-Timimi, an Islamic scholar in Northern Virginia sentenced to life in prison in 2005 for inciting his followers to commit acts of terrorism, maintain that he may have been illegally wiretapped by the agency as part of its program of eavesdropping without warrants that was approved by President Bush soon after the Sept. 11 attacks.
Yeah, except Bush's Wiretapping Began BEFORE 9/11!
In April 2006, four months after the N.S.A. program was publicly disclosed, an appellate court directed the trial judge in Mr. Timimi’s case to reconsider it in light of his lawyers’ accusations.
But the issue has been bogged down in court for 18 months, with intelligence officials making a series of classified appearances before the judge, Leonie M. Brinkema, to explain the government’s position. Lawyers for Mr. Timimi and even the trial prosecutors have not been allowed to hear the closed-door discussions.
Jonathan Turley, the lead appellate lawyer for Mr. Timimi, said the defense’s lack of access to crucial evidence had made it hard to litigate the case.
Mr. Turley, in a telephone interview: “We’re shadowboxing in the courtroom with unnamed officials at unnamed agencies.”
On Tuesday, at an open hearing in her courtroom in Alexandria, Va., Judge Brinkema appeared to be out of patience as well, lawyers there said. The judge, who also handled the terrorism trial that resulted in a life sentence for Zacarias Moussaoui, expressed frustration over the recent disclosure that the government had misled her at the Moussaoui trial by denying the existence of any tape recording of high-value Qaeda detainees. In a Nov. 9 filing with the court, the government acknowledged that three such tapes did exist but said the prosecutors at the Moussaoui trial had not known of them.
Judge Brinkema told federal prosecutors at the Timimi hearing that she wanted the government to find a way to give trial prosecutors, defense lawyers and her own clerk the clearance to review classified material in the case. That could require the direct intervention of the White House, since Mr. Bush has personally handled decisions on issuing clearances for the N.S.A. eavesdropping program.
Then HE IS A CRIMINAL!!!! A LAW-BREAKING CRIMINAL!!!!!!
William Olson, another lawyer for Mr. Timimi at the hearing, said the judge’s tone of frustration indicated “that the situation we’ve been operating under has to change.” And she made clear, Mr. Olson and others at the hearing said, that she was prepared to order a new trial for Mr. Timimi if the problem was not resolved.
Judge Brinkema appeared mindful of the problems in the Moussaoui case when, issuing a written ruling hours after Tuesday’s hearing, she said she wanted a trial prosecutor in the Timimi matter to receive the needed clearances and review the classified submissions to the court “so he can be assured that his representations to the court are accurate.”
The Justice Department declined comment on the day’s developments.
Mr. Timimi’s lawyers are trying to show that the government conducted numerous wiretaps of his international communications without disclosing them to the judge or the defense lawyers, as required.
The government acknowledged at Mr. Timimi’s trial that it had conducted a small number of wiretaps on him through customary court warrants. But Mr. Turley said the defense had also identified what it describes as a 17-month period after the Sept. 11 attacks when it suspects numerous other calls were tapped."
And, of course, Bush's Wiretapping Began BEFORE 9/11!
