Trial for Pro-Israel Lobbyists Slips
This article is from the archive of The New York Sun before the launch of its new website in 2022. The Sun has neither altered nor updated such articles but will seek to correct any errors, mis-categorizations or other problems introduced during transfer.
The trial of two pro-Israel lobbyists for trafficking in classified information is likely to be delayed until September or later, based on the schedule a federal court issued yesterday in an unusual mid-case appeal filed by prosecutors.
The 4th Circuit Court of Appeals, based in Richmond, Va., set dates through the end of July for the filing of legal briefs by the prosecution and lawyers for the two former staffers of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, Steven Rosen and Keith Weissman.
The two men, who have pleaded not guilty, were indicted in August 2005 for conspiring to obtain and relay classified information to journalists and Israeli diplomats. The trial has been postponed repeatedly as the two sides and Judge Thomas Ellis III of Alexandria, Va., haggled over how to handle alleged secrets in the courtroom. Prosecutors are appealing a 278-page order the judge issued on that subject, as well as other rulings.
