WASHINGTON — A federal appeals court has joined a lower-court judge in cracking down on the legal ramblings of terrorism suspect Zacarias Moussaoui, banning him from filing pleadings that are not routed through his attorneys.
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 4th Circuit took the action last week after Moussaoui violated an earlier order warning him not to file pleadings that "fail to include a discernible request for relief, seek relief that is improper or seek relief that has been previously denied by this court," a three-judge panel said.
As a result, the court banned future filings and struck from the docket all pleadings submitted by Moussaoui since Dec. 1. Those include a document titled "20th Hijacker … Obscene Work" and another seeking the removal from the case of U.S. District Judge Leonie Brinkema in Alexandria, Va. It was titled "20th Hijacker Crazy Geezer v Woman Totally Crazy."
The issue of Moussaoui’s jailhouse lawyering has dogged the case of the only person charged in the United States in connection with the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. Last year, Brinkema allowed Moussaoui to represent himself after he fired his court-appointed attorneys.
What followed was a 17-month stream of blistering handwritten motions, scrawled from Moussaoui’s jail cell in Alexandria, in which he taunted the government, blasted his attorneys and compared Brinkema to a Nazi SS officer. He even made fun of her hairstyle.
Moussaoui’s trial was delayed twice because of issues resulting from his self-representation, such as the multitude of documents he had to review from his jail cell.
Last month, Brinkema revoked Moussaoui’s ability to represent himself and reappointed his attorneys, who had been serving as standby counsel. She said Moussaoui had violated her orders to not file frivolous and insulting pleadings.
Even so, Brinkema wrote last week, Moussaoui "has continued to send the Court redundant and inappropriate pleadings." She said she will no longer accept anything from Moussaoui that is not filed by his attorneys.
Moussaoui, a French citizen, is accused of conspiring with al-Qaida in the attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon. The case is on hold while the government appeals a ruling by Brinkema that made Moussaoui ineligible for the death penalty and struck all references to the Sept. 11 attacks from the government’s case.
The three-judge appellate panel in Richmond, Va., is now deciding how to rule on the appeal.
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