Al-Nashiri #10: It Ain't Over Till It's Over

By Benjamin Wittes & Ritika Singh

 

The last issue on the agenda is that of the trial schedule. But first, after securing the defense’s clarification that it is not seeking a speedy trial, Judge Pohl and Kammen have a tangent to go off on. They have an extended back and forth over Judge Pohl’s order yesterday on expert resources. As we discussed this at length yesterday, we will ignore it now.Judge Pohl then turns to the trial schedule. He is going to set a firm date for another motions hearing in mid-to-late April. A month before this hearing, the defense will be able to file any motions related to legal issues, which include some facial challenges to the statute the defense is planning. Judge Pohl says that this hearing doesn’t preclude the defense from filing any such motions later, but he thinks there are some issues the Commission can deal with up front. The government will be given two weeks to respond, and the defendant will have a week to reply. The hearing will take place one week after that. If the defense wants to address any other issues related to discovery, it can do that at that hearing too, though Judge Pohl makes clear that he will not entertain motions that are not filed within the time frame he outlined. He also notes that the defense’s ex parteresponse to the 505 review will be due at that time. And Kammen makes clear that the defense will submit a more elaborate motion to “revisit the chains” issue at that time--a motion that, he says, will require a closed session.With that, the Commission stands in recess.