21 March 2010
Some new papers were filed in the attempted espionage case against Stewart Nozette on
17 March 2010.
1. A superseding indictment was filed that takes the place of the original indictment. This new one has three counts.
2. A memorandum by the government explaining the new indictment. It adds a new count out of the facts underlying the old count one, and the new count three is the old count two.
3. The government's Rule 404(b) motion, which it was supposed to file in 30 days after the last status conference. The Federal Rules of Evidence govern what evidence can be introduced into a trial in federal court. Rule 404(b) of those rules concerns evidence of other bad acts or wrongs done by the defendant, or evidence of a "bad character".
Since one of the principles of the criminal justice system in the U.S. is that a person is to go on trial only for the specific charge on evidence related to it, and not for being a rotten son of a b***h and a person of bad character, there is often a lot of argument before and during a trial over what evidence of other misconduct and extraneous transactions can be presented at a trial. The prosecution is to reveal in advance what other alleged bad acts of the defendant it plans to try to put in as evidence.
This motion lists them.
Also, on March 1, the court appointed an attorney from the Federal Public Defender's office (paid by the
taxpayers) to assist Nozette's hired attorney, probably for purposes of issues regarding classified information and the Classified Information Procedures Act.
The next status conference in court is to be Wednesday,
24 March 2010, in the federal courthouse in Washington, D.C.
Robert Willmann, Jr.
Download Nozette_superseding_indictment.pdf