Court Stays Ruling Barring Witness Deals

The U.S. 10th Circuit Court of Appeals on Friday unexpectedly stayed a controversial ruling barring federal prosecutors from promising leniency to cooperative witnesses.

The Denver-based court’s stay of last week’s ruling by a three-judge panel of the same court came one day after the Justice Department said it would ask the full U.S. appeals court to reverse the ruling. The ruling might affect many convictions, including those in the Oklahoma City bombing case.

Friday’s order said the court was acting on its own initiative to indefinitely postpone the effective date of the ruling until all 12 judges of the court can reconsider the decision issued by its three-judge panel.

The July 1 ruling said it is illegal for federal prosecutors to offer leniency in exchange for testimony. The panel said such plea-bargain agreements fall under a federal law against offering a witness “anything of value” in return for testimony. Under the decision, federal prosecutors making such offers could have been sent to prison.

The ruling led to a backlash from prosecutors, members of Congress and editorial writers because of its negative effect on law enforcement. Attorneys said the decision would make it more difficult for the government to investigate and prosecute crimes, particularly those committed by more than one person.

The appeal will be set for oral argument during the November session of the court, the court said in a two-page order.

The ruling applied only to the six states of the 10th Circuit, which covers Colorado, Kansas, Oklahoma, New Mexico, Utah and Wyoming.

But the Justice Department did not want it to be adopted by appeals courts in other parts of the country.

Deputy Atty. Gen. Eric H. Holder Jr. said it is difficult to say whether the ruling will affect the appeals of Timothy J. McVeigh and Terry L. Nichols, who were convicted in the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing that killed 168 people.

A key witness in the case, Michael Fortier, testified after reaching a plea deal with prosecutors that promised him leniency.

Several members of Congress said they will propose legislation to overturn the ruling of the panel.

The ruling had an immediate effect in some states because trials were approaching in cases in which prosecutors said their cases were dependent on testimony based on agreements that would be illegal under the decision.