THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, March 15, 1996 TAG: 9603150438
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B3 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY KAREN JOLLY DAVIS, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: NORFOLK LENGTH: Short : 42 lines
A federal judge on Thursday disqualified the attorney for two of three peace protesters on the grounds that the lawyer once represented a woman who is expected to be a government witness.
The trial, scheduled to start March 19 in Newport News, was postponed so the defendants, accused of sabotage, could retain new counsel. No new date was set.
U.S. District Court Judge Henry Morgan ruled that Jim Ellenson, attorney for Rick Sieber and Michele Naar-Obed, had a conflict of interest.
Sieber and his son Erin, both of Philadelphia, and Naar-Obed of Baltimore were charged by federal authorities after they sneaked aboard an unfinished sub at Newport News Shipyard. They allegedly pounded the vessel with household hammers, and emptied bottles filled with their own blood into the sub's missile-launch tubes. They called the demonstration ``Jubilee Plowshares.''
Ellenson represented the protesters when they faced state charges of trespass. At that time, the group included Amy Moose of New York. Moose decided to plead guilty in state court in exchange for immunity from federal prosecution.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Harvey Bryant told Judge Morgan Thursday that the government planned to call Moose as a witness. Bryant argued that Ellenson would have a conflict of interest when cross-examining her, because he had been her lawyer in the earlier case.
Judge Morgan agreed. He said Ellenson's prior involvement, Moose's plea bargain, and the fact that Erin Sieber already has another attorney, would all raise questions in a jury's mind.
``The fact that you have to try to explain will count against you. You'll be starting with a handicap,'' Morgan told Ellenson.
KEYWORDS: NUCLEAR WEAPONS PROTEST VANDALISM
ARREST by CNB