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The judge who is presiding over Zacarias Moussaoui's sentencing trial is weighing whether she should throw out the possibility of a death sentence for Moussaoui due to what CNN is calling a "blunder" committed by a government lawyer.

Blunder? When OJ prosecutor Christopher Darden made Simpson try on the bloody glove without being sure it would fit — that was a blunder. A dumb mistake.

But in the Moussaoui trial, the lawyer in question, Carla Martin, didn't just slip up. She deliberately tried to skew the outcome of the trial by coaching witnesses. Not two, not four — seven witnesses.

Attorney Martin emailed the witnesses transcripts of opening statements and testimony, in direct violation of the judge's order that witnesses "may not attend or otherwise follow trial proceedings; for example, may not read transcripts, before being called to testify."

The judge was displeased:

"In all the years I've been on the bench, I have never seen such an egregious violation of a rule on witnesses."

Martin was a lawyer for the Transportation Security Administration and not part of the prosecutorial team, but that doesn't lessen the damaging effect of her action.

Martin acted in flagrant violation of a court order. But should anyone be surprised? She is part of an administration that considers ignoring the law a point of macho pride.

I don't know if Martin thought she was justified in attempting to influence seven witnesses because God was on her side or because we're the good guys and they're the bad guys, or whether it was simply due to some twisted concept of patriotism.

I do know that this administration has created an atmosphere of exactly this kind of ends-justifies-the-means lawlessness. People may be disgusted by Martin's attempt to influence witnesses. But few will be surprised.