8/22 Motions Session #6: Recess is Over and … Let’s Recess
The lunch hour extended a few minutes---here it is 2:15 and all, a step beyond our appointed time of 2:00---the judge reconvenes the military commission.
Published by The Lawfare Institute
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The lunch hour extended a few minutes---here it is 2:15 and all, a step beyond our appointed time of 2:00---the judge reconvenes the military commission.
David Nevin disputes Trivett’s account of the defense’s access to information, so far as it concerned courtroom monitoring technology. Precedent is on his side, he says; they recall that earlier, JTF denied the existence of any monitoring capability, across the board. But lo, Nevin and crew later discovered such capability indeed had existed all the while. Having that in mind, the defense presses on with discovery into audio issues. Nevin thus reaffirms Connell’s arguments from before lunch, regarding the need to inquire further into schematics, button-pushers, and so on.
Up pops Ruiz with a different issue: he needs a moment to speak further with his client, who isn’t back at camp but instead somewhere nearby. Can he have a quick recess to wrap up a conversation---presumably waiver-related---with al-Hawsawi? A visibly angry judge will grant that request, though he also sharply chides counsel. The latter, Judge Pohl says, are supposed keep the court advised as to presence matters. And he simply won’t abide excessive, repeated delays, or counsel and accused popping in and out of court willy-nilly. The lawyer pivots, insisting that he wasn’t aware of al-Hawsawi’s volte face.
We’ll be back in fifteen minutes.