The order stated that the commonwealth was to provide grand jury testimony to the defense no later than July 6. Failure to do so would preclude certain witnesses from testifying in the trial. Benjamin Vrobel, an attorney for Mr. Styers, argued that the attorney general's office never provided the information until July 10, three days before the trial was to begin.

Lance Marshall, who represents Mr. Hemingway, argued that filing the motion would "significantly impact" the case because it would affect 34 witnesses. He said there was no reason not to get the transcripts in time.

Mr. Vrobel told the court that the defense had been frustrated "one avenue after another" by the commonwealth. He pointed out that there had been no preliminary hearing in the case and that the grand jury had found that a prima facia case had been met. Mr. Vrobel argued that the defense attorneys could not properly defend their clients without the transcripts. He said the attorney general's office expected them to defend their clients with three days of evidence from a case that happened more than four years ago.

When questioned, Deputy Attorney General Dave Gorman told Judge Ammerman that he had thought the deadline to provide the information was July 9, not July 6.

Judge Ammerman pointed out that the attorney general's office and all the attorneys had met with him in February and agreed that the July 6 deadline would be sufficient. The judge said that Mr. Gorman had agreed to comply with that deadline and never challenged it. He pointed out that even if Mr. Gorman believed the deadline was July 9, he still failed to comply by not providing the transcripts until July 10.

Mr. Gorman argued that he had been unavailable because he had been conducting interviews at SCI Rockview. He listed a concern about providing transcripts to the attorneys, who could then share the information with their imprisoned clients and other witnesses.

Judge Ammerman accused Mr. Gorman of "sandbagging" the defense attorneys by agreeing to share the information and then failing to comply with the agreement.

Mr. Vrobel accused Mr. Gorman of playing judge, instead of Judge Ammerman. "We all realize that you judge the case," he told the judge on behalf of the other defense attorneys.

Mr. Marshall also pointed out that "even if you accept that he was sloppy," the attorneys never got the transcripts until July 10.

Robert Rosner of the attorney general's office told the judge that Mr. Gorman was "under the gun" and had been "paring down witnesses." He said that many of the witnesses listed in the grand jury testimony weren't being called. Mr. Rosner also told the judge that "no disrespect" was meant by Mr. Gorman's actions.

"Your office can't meet with the court, agree and then blow it off," Judge Ammerman told the attorney general representatives. "I call it sandbagging the defense."

Mr. Rosner claimed the attorney generals had "imprisoned" themselves at SCI Rockview while they were attempting to cut down the witness list. He said that an order of suppression would be a drastic remedy.

Judge Ammerman reminded Mr. Rosner that his February order clearly stated that failure to comply would result in preclusion of testimony. Mr. Rosner countered that the defense had evidence and summaries, but not the statements from the two grand jury hearings.

Based on information, Judge Ammerman granted the defense attorney's pre-trial motions to preclude testimony from 34 witnesses. He then met with the attorney general's office to allow it to decide how to proceed with the trial. Mr. Gorman told the court that the defense's motions to eliminate witnesses "substantially handicapped" the commonwealth's case and agreed to file an appeal.

Ron Collins, who represents Mr. Smeal, argued that the defense wasn't to blame for the outcome.

"It's their own fault that they're in this position," he said of the attorney general's office.

Judge Ammerman then brought the jury into the courtroom to explain what had happened.

"In essence, we wasted seven days of time," he said, and described the trial as "anticlimactic". "I'm not happy over the situation, but this is how the system works.

Mr. Gorman was scheduled to file his motion yesterday after the proceeding. The other attorneys plan to file motions to reduce their clients' bail this week. All five men are currently incarcerated.