But Kevin McNally, a death penalty defense lawyer based in Kentucky, said the Justice Department practice in previous administrations generally permitted federal prosecutors to make plea deals that would avert execution.

The new bill also incorporates the idea at the core of the PIRATE Act, by permitting federal prosecutors to bring civil suits against copyright infringers.

And Judge Johnson's decisions not to limit Mr. Goba's testimony were among several permitting prosecutors to present essentially the case they originally said they wanted to present.

The Parliament's action tonight permitted prosecutors to pursue lesser charges and inquiries into illicit fundraising by Mr. Craxi.

American courts have long permitted prosecutors to reach beyond the borders of the United States.

Officials familiar with the case said a judge had issued an order permitting prosecutors to argue for reconsideration of the decision to return the girl to her adoptive home.

But these officials said the order also directed prosecutors to present arguments about their right to make such arguments, since state law currently contains no provisions permitting prosecutors to step into such cases.

The "public safety" exception departs from this principle by expressly inviting police officers to coerce defendants into making incriminating statements, and then permitting prosecutors to introduce those statements at trial.

These post-Miranda decisions permitted prosecutors to use statements obtained in violation of Miranda to impeach a defendant's credibility or for other purposes beyond the prosecution's direct case.

Last year this circumstance permitted American prosecutors to question five Canadian witnesses refusing to cross the border in an improvised library hearing room.