 Martin had e-mailed seven Federal Aviation Administration officials describing opening statements of the prosecution and commentary on government witnesses from the start of the testimony, effectively 'coaching the witnesses'.Brinkema said, "In all the years I've been on the bench, I have never seen such an egregious violation of a rule on witnesses," and described the situation as a "significant error by the government affecting the... integrity of the criminal justice system of the United States in the context of a death case.