But the judge, Colonel Tara Osborn, barred prosecutors from referencing Akbar, saying Akbar wasn't on trial and introduction of such material would "only open the door to a mini trial".
It reads like a very confidential sort of "mini trial" was envisaged to allow this select group to satisfy themselves about Murphy's fitness to sit again among the other high court judges.
By pleading guilty to the four death-penalty counts, he said, he could avoid a high-publicity trial and move immediately to the penalty phase of the case -- a mini trial before a jury that is required in federal cases in which capital punishment is sought.
The day is a multitude of madcap mini-trials.
Following a conviction, the "penalty phase," a separate mini-trial before the same jury, would consider whether the defendant should be sentenced to death.
If the answer to each question was yes, then a series of mini-trials would follow, determining the damages to be paid to the individual plaintiffs.
The judge, Alan S. Gold of Federal District Court in Miami, said in a public conference call with UBS lawyers and Justice Department officials that any such mini-trial would take place on July 13.
Some might suggest that all cases should be treated the way McCulloch handled Wilson before the grand jury, with a full-fledged mini-trial of all the incriminating and exculpatory evidence presented at this preliminary stage.
She said she was worried the Manning trial, now scheduled to include about 150 government witnesses and last as many as 12 weeks, "has the potential to devolve into mini-trials regarding international politics in various regions of the world".
In the complicated calculus of the death penalty in Colorado, sentencing can be composed of up to three separate mini-trials, complete with opening statements, witnesses, closing arguments and verdicts.
