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AP. 11 December 2001. First Sept. 11 Indictment Brought in Federal Court Known for Spies, Speed and Government Victories. WASHINGTON -- The inscription on the front of the suburban Washington courthouse, next to the depiction of the tortoise and the hare, reads simply: "Justice Delayed is Justice Denied." That's the motto at the "rocket docket," the federal court in Alexandria, Va., known for speed, spies and a winning record for government prosecutors. It was the site Tuesday of the first indictment directly related to the Sept. 11 suicide hijackings. Like accused spies Aldrich Ames and Robert Hanssen before him, accused terrorist Zacarias Moussaoui is now is in the hands of prosecutors and judges unusually familiar with national security and government secrecy. "The court is notoriously, legendarily hospitable to the prosecution," said defense lawyer Reid Weingarten. "From the perspective of the defense attorney, it is an inhospitable place top to bottom." The government could have brought the indictment several places, probably including Washington and New York City, where several recent terrorism trials have been held. Choosing a suburban courthouse near the CIA and the Pentagon has numerous advantages for the government, lawyers said. The combination of a quick pace, a jury pool that is largely white, suburban and middle class, and intangibles such as the generally conservative culture of the place all weigh in favor of the government, lawyers said. "It's a good district for prosecutors," said former federal prosecutor Mark Hulkower, who prosecuted the Ames spy case there. "From the government's standpoint it makes perfect sense," he said. "You have a jury pool with large numbers of current or former government employees. You have prosecutors used to dealing with complex high profile cases, judges experienced in high profile cases involving classified material." Lawyers predict quick developments in the case of Moussaoui, a French Moroccan who sought flight training a month before the attacks and aroused suspicion by saying he wanted to learn to take off and land, but not fly. "The first thing you notice about the Eastern District of Virginia is speed," said William Moffitt, a defense lawyer who practices there and in the very different federal courthouse across the Potomac River in Washington. "It is well known as the rocket docket, and that is the culture. It's right there on the outside of the courthouse." The Alexandria court, under the stewardship of Chief Judge Claude M. Hilton, sets and keeps tight deadlines for both sides in criminal cases. An old joke around the courthouse is that a lawyer has to collapse, bleeding before the bench, to win a delay in the schedule. That means that federal prosecutors can take their time preparing a detailed indictment, as they apparently did with Moussaoui, leaving defense lawyers scrambling to make up for lost time, lawyers said. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Barry Stoller http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ProletarianNews ==^================================================================ This email was sent to: archive@jab.org EASY UNSUBSCRIBE click here: http://topica.com/u/?a84x2u.a9WB2D Or send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] T O P I C A -- Register now to manage your mail! http://www.topica.com/partner/tag02/register ==^================================================================
