- Posted August 16, 2011
- Tweet This | Share on Facebook
U.S. hot about sealed filings in Detroit plane hijakcing case
By Ed White
Associated Press
DETROIT (AP) -- A judge suddenly scheduled a hearing for this week after prosecutors raised questions last Friday about sealed documents in the case against a Nigerian man accused of trying to blow up a plane near Detroit.
The government wants to know if Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab agreed to the sealed filings recently made by his standby counsel, Anthony Chambers. The hearing is Wednesday.
The subject of the filings was not disclosed by Assistant U.S. Attorney Cathleen Corken, but she wrote that it could affect the Oct. 4 trial date and Abdulmutallab's ability to "continue with self-representation." She didn't elaborate.
Abdulmutallab, 24, is charged with trying to blow up an Amsterdam-to-Detroit plane with nearly 300 people on Christmas Day 2009.
He dismissed his court-appointed lawyers last year and said he wanted to represent himself. U.S. District Judge Nancy Edmunds agreed but also assigned Chambers, a respected defense attorney, as standby counsel to assist him.
Chambers declined to offer much comment.
"We are not running amok. We are following the court rules," he told The Associated Press. "We are meeting our ethical responsibilities to the court as well as the client."
If Abdulmutallab is convicted, the government is concerned about an appeal. Corken said there's a "serious danger" that a conviction could be overturned if he convinces an appeals court that his right to represent himself was "eroded by an overly eager standby counsel."
Published: Tue, Aug 16, 2011
headlines Oakland County
- Annual Meeting
- Oakland County clerk/register brings services to Highland Township and surrounding areas with June 4 local office visit
- Whitmer announces Wayne, Oakland, Macomb commit to expand Project DIAMOnD, calls for statewide expansion of “infrastructure for innovation”
- Oakland County completes work for first RainSmart resident
- SUPREME COURT NOTEBOOK
headlines National
- This Los Angeles lawyer found her calling as a death doula
- ACLU and BigLaw firm use ‘Orange is the New Black’ in hashtag effort to promote NY jail reform
- Artificial intelligence tools for brief writing and analysis are a small firm litigator’s new best friend
- Baker McKenzie partner drops suit seeking IRS documents on partnership scrutiny
- Family members sue networks after learning of loved ones’ deaths by seeing bodies on TV
- Ex-BigLaw attorney once ‘consumed with remorse’ over $10M client theft sentenced in new scheme