Judge Disqualifies Kunstler, Kuby From N.Y. Bomb Conspiracy Case

A judge disqualified civil rights lawyers William Kunstler and Ron Kuby on Thursday from representing men accused of conspiring to bomb New York City landmarks, saying they faced potential conflicts of interest.

U.S. District Judge Michael Mukasey, whose ruling likely will force a delay in the scheduled Sept. 19 trial, noted that the lawyers had represented four defendants and several other people connected to the case, relationships that posed insurmountable problems.

He said they also were potential unsworn witnesses in the case, in part because of public statements they made out of a “perceived need to correct a hostile public view of blameless clients.”

“No one forced these lawyers to test-fly their defense theories in public and in court documents, and to say and do things that could be proved against their client at trial,” Mukasey wrote. When faced with the conflicts of interest, the lawyers have “either denied the existence of the problems . . . or trivialized them.”

The judge indicated, as prosecutors had a week ago, that some of the 13 defendants are likely to testify, including Sheik Omar Abdel Rahman. Prosecutors allege that the 56-year-old cleric guided the conspiracy to bomb landmarks including the United Nations, a building housing the FBI and two tunnels and a bridge connecting Manhattan to New Jersey.