2 -The Michigan Daily - Tuesday, March 14, 2006 INR MusATION/ WORLD Moussaoui may escape death penalty NEWS IN BRIEF11 #1 EJudge considers dismissing death-penalty case against suspected terrorist ALEXANDRIA, Va. (AP) - The federal judge in the Zacarias Moussaoui case said yesterday she may dismiss the death-penalty prosecution of the al-Qaida conspirator after a federal law- yer apparently coached witnesses on upcoming testimony. U.S. District Judge Leonie Brinkema said it was "very difficult for this case to go forward" after prosecutors revealed that a lawyer for the Transportation Security Administration had vio- lated her order barring witnesses from any expo- sure to trial testimony. Brinkema sent the jury home until Wednesday while she considers her options. She will hold a hearing today to determine the scope of the prob- lem. The TSA lawyer, Carla Martin, and most bf the seven witnesses - past or present employ- ees of the Federal Aviation Administration who received e-mails from Martin - are expected to testify. Brinkema said she had "never seen such an egregious violation of a rule on witnesses," and prosecutor David Novak agreed that Martin's actions were "horrendously wrong." Defense lawyer Edward MacMahon asked Brinkema to dismiss the government's death- penalty case, saying, "This is not going to be a fair trial." At the very least, he said the government's FAA witnesses should be excluded. But prosecu- tor Novak protested they represented "half the government's case." Brinkema said Martin had sent e-mails to the upcoming witnesses in which she discussed the government's opening statement and trial strat- egy and included transcripts of the first day's proceedings, including the testimony of an FBI witness. MacMahon suggested that the upcom- ing witnesses were warned to "be careful" if they were cross-examined about certain topics. Brinkema said the violation was compounded by the fact that Martin e-mailed the witnesses jointly, violating standard practice against joint interviews of witnesses. What that leads to is the very real potential that witnesses are rehearsed, coached or other- wise that the truth-seeking concept of a proceed- ing is significantly eroded," Brinkema said. Brinkema said she also would reconsider the defense's request of last week for a mistrial - made after a question from Novak suggested to the jury that Moussaoui might have had an obli- gation to confess his terrorist connections to the FBI even after he had invoked his right to an attorney. Brinkema noted that when Novak asked the question Thursday she ruled it out of order after the defense said the question should result in a mistrial. Brinkema warned the government at that point that it was treading on shaky legal ground because she knew of no case where a failure to act result- ed in a death penalty as a matter of law. "This is the second significant error by the government affecting the constitutional rights of this defendant and, more importantly, the integ- rity of the criminal justice system in this coun- try," Brinkema said yesterday. Of the seven witnesses whose testimony was potentially tainted, three were expected to be government witnesses and four were expected to be defense witnesses. Novak suggested that, in lieu of dismissal, perhaps two of the govern- ment's witnesses should be excluded from trial and the defense could present its FAA witness evidence through a stipulation rather than by tes- timony, meaning the defense witnesses would not be subject to cross-examination. If Brinkema bars the government from pursu- ing the death penalty, the trial would be over and Moussaoui would automatically be sentenced to life in prison without possibility of release. The government could appeal that ruling. Moussaoui pleaded guilty in April to conspir- ing with al-Qaida to hijack aircraft and commit other crimes, and the current trial will determine his punishment: life in prison, or death. Brinkema barred prosecutors from seeking the death penalty against Moussaoui once before, in 2003, after the government refused to allow the defense to question key al-Qaida leaders in U.S. custody. But an appellate court overruled her in 2004 and reinstated the death penalty as an option. Moussaoui appeared amused as the lawyers debated how to proceed. Leaving the courtroom, he said, "The show must go on." Attorney General Alberto Gonzales declined comment on the developments. Thomas Connolly, a former federal prosecu- tor in northern Virginia, called the TSA law- yer's actions "a monumental blunder" that puts Brinkema in "an impossible position." "Either she goes forward with a record that is subject to a strong challenge on appeal and faces the possibility of having to do this all over again or she finds the case is now so tainted that she declares a mistrial and has to do it all over. And her third option is equally bad: dismissing the death penalty and not permitting the victims' families to see the process play out in court." Aitan Goelman, a former federal prosecu- tor who worked on the Timothy McVeigh and Terry Nichols trials for the bombing of the fed- eral building in Oklahoma City, said he did not believe the mistake warranted dismissal. "There's a whole range of remedies," he said. "Exclusion of witnesses seems to be the punish- ment that fits the crime." Moussaoui is the only person charged in this country with the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks. While he has pleaded guilty to conspiracy, he specifically denies any link to 9/11 and says he was training to be part of a possible future attack. Prosecu- tors, to obtain the death penalty, must prove that Moussaoui's actoins resulted in at least one death on Sept. 11. I a. I ENIIs '110 1111111' LONDON Britain to cut troops in Iraq by 10 percent Britain said yesterday it will cut its forces in Iraq by 10 percent - a reduc- tion of about 800 troops - by May because Iraqi security forces are becom- ing more capable of handling security. Defense Secretary John Reid said Britain's commitment to the Iraqi people "remains total." "Our commitment to the coalition remains certain," Reid said. Britain had 46,000 military personnel in Iraq during combat operations in March and April 2003. That dropped to 18,000 in May 2004, and to 8,500 at the end of 2005. At the time of the last withdrawal of British troops in October, Reid said that there were 190,000 members of Iraqi security forces trained and equipped. Now the total is 235,000, and 5,000 more joined every month, he said. THE HAGUE, Netherlands Rumors suround cause of Milosevic's death A swirl of suspicion surrounded Slobodan Milosevic's death, with evidence emerg- ing yesterday that the former Yugoslav leader took medication he wasn't supposed to. Among the scenarios being floated: Drugs smuggled into prison, a poisoning plot and the possibility Milosevic was undermining his own treatment in hopes of being sent to Moscow, where his wife and son live in exile. There was also concern that a funeral in Serbia could ignite nationalist passions and cause turmoil for the pro-democracy authorities who toppled Milosevic in 2000. Milosevic was overthrown after a 13-year reign in which many around the world blamed him for a series of wars that killed hundreds of thousands and left the former Yugoslavia a splintered ruin. NEW YORK McClatchy buys Knight Ridder for $4.5 billion The McClatchy Co. is making its biggest bet yet on the future of the newspaper industry by agreeing to pay $4.5 billion in cash and stock to acquire Knight Ridder Inc., a major newspaper publisher more than twice its size. The addition of The Miami Herald, Fort Worth Star-Telegram and 18 other papers in fast-growing cities may be less risky than it seems. McClatchy CEO Gary Pruitt said in an interview yesterday that all the papers are dominant in their markets and ripe for rapid expansions of their Internet and direct mail businesses, without requiring deep cuts in newsgathering budgets. But Pruitt is also counting on paying down acquisition debt by selling The Philadel- phia Inquirer, the San Jose Mercury-News and 10 other Knight Ridder newspapers. WASHINGTON Bush: Iraqi insurgents' goal is civil war President Bush said yesterday insurgents in Iraq were trying to ignite a civil war by escalating violence and warned there will be more "chaos and carnage in the days and months to come." Even on a particularly grim day, when four Iraqi bodies were found hang- ing from utility towers and Iraqis coped with the deaths of at least 58 people the day before when car bombings and mortar rounds plagued Baghdad's Sadr City slum, the president said progress was being made. There was relative peace in Iraq yesterday, even though bomb blasts and shootings in Baghdad and north of the capital killed at least 15. 41 Swarms of tornadoes ravage Midwest A Storms kill 10, destroy homes, close University of Kansas SPRINGFIELD, Ill. (AP) - Swarms of tornadoes killed at least 10 people across the Midwest, shut down the Uni- versity of Kansas and caused so much damage in Springfield that the mayor compared it to the aftermath of Hurri- cane Katrina. The violent weather started dur- ng the weekend with a line of storms that spawned tornadoes and down- pours from the southern Plains to the Ohio Valley. A second line of storms raked the region yesterday, with rain, hail and fierce wind tearing up trees and homes from Kansas through Indiana. To the northwest, the vast weather system pulled cold air in Canada, generating snowstorms that cut off power to thou- sands and shut down schools in South Dakota, Minnesota and Wisconsin. Illinois' capital was hit hard twice n 24 hours, first by a tornado and then strong wind early yesterday that blew debris through the city. Power lines were down across Springfield, trees uprooted and windows blown out. "It's just amazing how devastating it is," Mayor Tim Davlin said yester- day after daylight let him see the extent f damage. "It looks like the pictures ve saw a couple months ago after Katrina." The tornado that struck Springfield on Sunday evening was one of about 20 that broke out along a 400-mile patch across Missouri and Illinois, National Weather Service meteorologist Ed Shi- mon said yesterday. Most major roads into the city were closed, and police searched damaged homes and businesses for people who could be trapped, said city spokesman Ernie Slottag. At least 24 people were treated for minor injuries. Two hotels looked like they were still under construction, with missing roofs and blown-out windows. A nearby Wal- Mart store had also lost its roof. Even the five-story Illinois Emergen- cy Management Agency building was damaged, its roof partly torn off and the top floor flooded, said IEMA spokes- woman Patti Thompson. The Capitol lost two windows, and the governor told nonessential state employees in Spring- field they weren't required to report to work yesterday. Missouri was also hit hard by the weekend storms, with at least nine people killed and hundreds of homes and busi- nesses destroyed or damaged. Hail as big as softballs pounded parts of the state. Bobby Ritcheson, 23, said he watched as a neighbor was killed south of Sedalia, Mo. "The trailer came down right on top of her," Ritcheson said. Homes were destroyed along a pato of; more than 20 miles south of St. Louis, officials said. - Compiled from Daily wire reports CORRECTIONS A caption on yesterday's front page incorrectly stated that peregrine falcons are endangered. They were taken off the federal list of endangered species in 1998. In a sidebar on yesterday's front page (Burton's Birds), the scientific name of per- egrine falcons should have been falco peregrinus. Due toan editing error, the name of Muslim Students' Association-Vice Presi- dent Wajeeha Shuttari was misspelled in a story on yesterday's front page (A2 says goodbye, Faz). Please report any error in the Daily to corrections@michigandaily.com. 420 Maynard St., Ann Arbor, MI 48109-1327 www.michigandaily.com AP PHOTO Eric Moll, right, and Josh Schremp search the remains of a friend's home for his hearing aids Sunday, after one of several tornadoes touched down near St. Mary, Missouri. At the University of Kansas, where 60 percent of the buildings were dam- aged by weekend storms, Provost David Shulenberger said classes were canceled yesterday because of safety concerns about debris falling from roofs. The Lawrence campus was littered with trees, roof tiles and window glass. Two trees fell through Rhonda Burns' mobile home in Lawrence early Sunday. "If the wind had shifted that tree just a few inches, I wouldn't be talking to you," she said. Tornadoes also destroyed dozens of homes Sunday in Oklahoma and Arkansas. DoNN M. FRESARD Editor in Chief fresard@michigandaily.com 647-3336 Sun.-Thurs. 5 p.m. - 2 a.m. JONATHAN DOBBERSTEIN Business Manager business@michigandaily . com 764-0558 Mon.-Fri. 9 a.m. - 5 p.m. t} Great Pay, Flexible Hours. Call now to apply. Mad cow disease strikes Alabama CONTACT INFORMATION News Tips Corrections Letters to the Editor Photography Department Arts Section Editorial Page Sports Section Display Sales Classified Sales Online Sales Finance Newsroom: 763-2459 Office hours: Sun.-Thurs. 11 a.m. - 2 a.m. news@michigandaily.com corrections@michigandaily.com tothedaily@michigandaily.com photo@michigandaily.com 764-0563 artspage@michigandaily.com 763-0379 opinion@michigandaily.com 763-0379 sports@michigandaily.com 764-8585 display@michigandaily.com 764-0554 classified@michigandaily.com 764-0557 onlineads@michigandaily.com 615-0135 finance@michigandaily.com 763-3246 6 I 800-2Review IPrincetonReview.com Pceton One cow infected, but offending beef hasn't entered food supply A cow in Alabama has tested posi- tive for mad cow disease, the Agri- culture Department said yesterday, confirming the third U.S. case of the brain-wasting ailment. The cow did not enter the food sup- ply for people or animals, officials said. The animal, unable to walk, was killed by a local veterinarian and buried on the farm. "We remain very confident in the safe- ty of U.S. beef," said the department's chief veterinarian, John Clifford. The news came as the Bush admin- istration worked to reassure Japan and other foreign customers of American beef. Japan halted U.S. beef ship- ments in January after finding veal cuts with backbone - cuts that are eaten in the U.S. but not in Asia. Japan was the top customer of American beef until the first U.S. case of mad cow disease prompted a ban it had only recently lifted. "We would not anticipate that this would impact our ongoing negotia- tions," Clifford said. "Our product is 10 years of age," Clifford said. Inves- tigators are working to pinpoint the cow's age, he said. The age of the cow is important because the U.S. put safeguards in place nine years ago to prevent the disease from spreading. The U.S. banned ground-up cattle remains from being added to cattle feed in 1997. Eating contaminated feed is the only way cattle are known to contract the disease. Older animals are more likely to have been exposed to contaminated feed cir- culating before the 1997 feed ban. In Canada, which enacted a simi- lar feed ban in 1997, the most recent case of mad cow disease was in an animal born after the feed ban, rais- ing questions about enforcement. That case was confirmed in January in Alberta. The Alabama cow had spent less than a year at the farm where it died, Clifford said. Investigators are work- ing to determine where the cow was born and raised and locate its herd- mates and offspring, Clifford said. The Agriculture Department has been considering when to scale back its higher level of testing for mad cow disease. 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