| Sami al-Arian Mistrial Watch: |
Last week, Moody interrupted defense closing arguments to address the issue. "Mr. Moffitt, do whatever you have to do," Moody said Nov. 7. "If you have to get up and walk around, do that. If you need to leave the courtroom, go ahead." When jurors re-entered the courtroom, Moffitt had left.
On Sunday, Moffitt spoke in an interview with the St. Petersburg Times about the reason for his problems staying awake: "I've given everything I can for this trial and I have nothing left. I am totally exhausted from the long hours. And, I have knee problems and kidney problems," said Moffitt, a well-respected lawyer from Washington, D.C., who is past president of the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers. Moffitt, 56 , said he would not go into details about his kidney problems, except to say he has lost more than 30 pounds in the past few months. Moffitt said he is distressed over his "emotional and physical exhaustion" but strongly believes it has not affected the defense of Al-Arian. He said he never considered stepping down. "I have no doubt in my mind that I did the best job for Sami that I could," he said. "I would not want to be unfair to him. I would rather die."
Over the trial, many in the courtroom have fallen asleep during the more mind-numbing testimony, which has included discussions of wire transfers, visa forms and translations of documents. But Moffitt also appeared to doze when attorneys for Al-Arian's co-defendants gave their closing arguments.
"I'd like to imagine that he was exhausted during the defense closing arguments because he delivered such a powerful closing argument himself," said [Sami's son] Abdullah Al-Arian. "We're extremely proud of him and our father and the way Bill (Moffitt) spoke of him. We felt we were living in an historical moment."
The issue of attorneys falling asleep in court has come up in other trials, including the 2000 case of a Texas defendant who landed on death row after his lawyer slept through much of his trial. The defendant appealed on the basis of ineffective counsel and won a new trial. Moffitt weighed in with an opinion on that case, commenting to the Independent newspaper in London on the judge's decision to give the man a new trial: "This is a wonderful development for Texas in that there is someone looking out for the citizens and trying to keep them alive in the face of bad lawyering."