The Court of Appeals rulings have had a chilling effect on prosecutors in New York, who say they have become wary of bringing more serious charges against drivers.
The decision in the case, they said, could have repercussions far beyond the death penalty in its effect on negotiations between prosecutors and lawyers.
The task force placed its bomb in the back of a vehicle identical to the Nissan Pathfinder that Mr. Shahzad used, and parked other vehicles nearby in order to measure the explosive effects on them, prosecutors said.
The trial also had an unexpected effect on Gill, the young prosecutor.
Under the German legal system, the decision had no binding effect on other judges or prosecutors, even in Cologne, said Jan F. Orth, a judge at the State Court there who serves as its spokesman.
Lewis, who read from a statement of the victim in the case, said Franklin's decision was yet another example of an action that would have a "chilling effect" on military judges and prosecutors and could inhibit victims from coming forward.
The additional $2.5 million in insider trading profits was unlikely to have a significant effect on the ultimate sentence, so prosecutors did not give up much to get a case resolved without having to go to trial.
In the memorandum, Deputy Attorney General David Ogden conceded that "even isolated lapses can have a disproportionate effect on public and judicial confidence in prosecutors and the criminal justice system".
Prosecutors started their case by calling as a witness Thomas Newkirk Thomas Newkirk, a U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission official who is, in effect, another prosecutor.
But even one bad actor in a prosecutor's office can have a significant effect on countless defendants and cases.
