Rabin murder trial in chaos

Tel Aviv (AP) - His defence in disarray, Yitzhak Rabin's self- confessed assassin cross-examined prosecution witnesses himself yesterday, arguing with police interrogators about ballistics and the wording of his confession.

During an occasionally chaotic six-hour court session, Judge Edmond Levy criticised Yigal Amir's lawyer and offered to help him find new representation after a second lawyer resigned from the case.

Contradicting his lawyer, Jonathan Ray Goldberg, Amir told the court he willingly confessed to police to manslaughter. Last week, Amir admitted he shot Rabin on 4 November but said he did not necessarily want to kill the prime minister, only disable him and force him from office. That was registered as a "not guilty" plea.

Mr Goldberg outraged Judge Levy when he asked to postpone the trial, which resumed last week after a month, to give him extra time to prepare his defence. "You have had one month and more to prepare," the judge responded. "If I were you, I wouldn't sleep at night in order to learn every part of the file. Whoever heard of such a thing?"

Mr Goldberg, who moved to Israel seven years ago from Texas, appeared to lack a strong command of the Hebrew language and his mistakes sent his client and a packed courtroom into bursts of laughter.