United States District Judge Nancy Edmunds on Thursday said Nigerian terror suspect, Farouk Abdulmutallab, could not defend himself in his ongoing trial for allegedly trying to destroy an American airliner on Christmas Day 2009 with explosives hidden in his underwear.
The Associated Press reports that the judge instead asked the prosecution to share evidence on the matter with his standby counsel, Anthony Chambers.
The 15-minute hearing was the first since Abdulmutallab sacked his four-man defence team last month and said he wanted to represent himself in the trial. The accused had said that it wasn’t necessary for Chambers to examine the evidence.
But the judge disagreed and ordered prosecutors to share it.
Edmund said, “I’m overriding you on this. ... You don’t have legal training. You don’t know the rules of evidence, the rules of criminal procedure.”
The judge said that Chambers, who was appointed only to advise Abdulmutallab, needed to see the evidence to answer any questions. Abdulmutallab had suggested at a hearing last month that he wanted to plead guilty to some charges.
The matter was adjourned till January 12, 2011.
Source:http://www.punchng.com/Articl.aspx?theartic=Art201010158113278
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