Moussaoui, Lindh on 'Rocket Docket'

A L E X A N D R I A, Va., Jan. 27 -- The federal court in the Eastern District of Virginia virtually advertises its nickname — the "rocket docket:" Above the entryway is a statue of a fleet-footed lady of justice and below her is the inscription, "justice delayed, justice denied."

Alleged terrorists Zacarias Moussaoui and John Walker Lindh may not have to wait long to learn their fates. Their cases both are before the court in Alexandria, Va.

"They move with lightning speed in the Eastern District," said Tom Connelly, who prosecuted cases there for five years.

On average, criminal cases in the Eastern District are wrapped up in two-thirds the time it takes other districts.

Lawyers for Moussaoui have nine months to prepare his case. Consider that lawyers for the 1993 World Trade Center bombers had two years to prepare, and that lawyers for Timothy McVeigh and Terry Nichols, charged in connection with the 1995 bombing of a federal building in Oklahoma City, had a year-and-a-half.

Advantage: Prosecution

Defense attorneys complain it moves too fast.

Lisa Kemler said she once had half a dozen character witnesses to put on the stand. The judge told her she could put on two.

"It can make it very difficult, and I think can affect a client's right to due process and a fair trial," Kemler said.

Connelly, the former prosecutor, freely admitted that speediness usually plays in the government's favor.

"It makes everyone focus, particularly the jury, on the facts of the case, whether the individual is innocent or guilty, and [not on] corollary or peripheral issues," Connelly said. "When the prosecution has that advantage, they have a good shot at winning the case."

The Eastern District has other advantages for the government. The U.S. attorney, Paul McNulty, is a former close aide to Attorney General John Ashcroft, who has overseen the cases against Moussaoui and Walker. The appeals court is very reluctant to overturn convictions.

And the jury pool — drawn from a community of retired veterans, Pentagon employees and other federal workers — looks more kindly, in general, on the prosecution.