Zacharaias Moussaoui, Shoko Asahara, and the Stockholm Syndrome...

This Moussaoui trial has gone on now for what, 4 years? Shoko Asahara, the cult leader of Aum Shin Rikyo, had an initial trial that went on about 6 years; his appeals have gone on for 2 years. He's still appealing as well as others involved.

I wonder after all this time, with trials like this (forget about "justice" being done; what is justice here?) what kind of bonding goes on with all concerned. People are like lice, Henry Miller observed; knowing them gets them under your skin. Anybody who's been to a zendo for a period of time knows that even in silence, perhaps especially in mindful silence, you get to know people. So I imagine judge Brinkema, for example, and Moussaoui are well acquainted by now, albeit constrained by their roles as judge and defendant.

It probably must take this long, short of a shoot first, ask questions later policy to let the legal process evolve.

I wonder though if it's possible to use this to transform people's lives- it likely happens in some form anyway.

Is Zacharias Moussaoui any more human to prosecutors and defense attorneys? To the judge? Are they more human to Moussaoui? Enough to cause him genuine regret? Enough to cause the judge to rethink her role in administering a death sentence for Moussaoui if needed? Should it?