BY JENNIFER BABSON

  KEY WEST - U.S. Justice Department brass are considering whether to permit former U.S. Attorney Kendall Coffey to continue to defend Ramón Saúl
  Sánchez, the Democracy Movement leader who faces federal charges after allegedly violating the U.S. Security Zone near Cuba last year.

  Sánchez said Friday that Coffey has appealed in writing to Washington after being warned that his representation of the exile leader -- who was
  scheduled to go to trial next Wednesday -- presented a conflict of interest.

  ''Right now, that's something that has to be decided by the Deputy U.S. Attorney General,'' Sánchez said Friday. ''I think they are using this because they
  want to deprive us of a fair trial.'' A federal judge on Friday postponed Sánchez's Key West trial until May 6. Coffey was working on the case for free with
  another attorney, Benedict Kuehne.

  Several attempts to reach Coffey and Kuehne for comment were unsuccessful Friday.

  Coffey was Miami's top prosecutor when former President Clinton signed a presidential proclamation in 1996 declaring an emergency security zone
  around Florida to prevent a possible confrontation with Cuba, after a Cuban MiG jet shot down two Brothers to the Rescue planes, killing four men.
  President Bush upheld the proclamation last year.

  ''The Department of Justice in Washington is reviewing Mr. Coffey's request for a waiver of any conflict he may have as a result of being the U.S. Attorney
  when the presidential proclamation and accompanying Security Zone regulations were promulgated,'' Aloyma Sanchez, spokeswoman for the U.S.
  Attorney's office in Miami, said Friday.

  Sánchez and two other men -- Alberto Perez and Pablo Rodriguez -- pleaded not guilty in September to charges that they conspired to enter Cuban
  territorial waters in a 23-foot speedboat and did so without U.S. Coast Guard authorization during a flotilla protest July 14. The case marks the first time
  anyone has been criminally charged with venturing outside the federal security zone off Florida's coast without approval. If convicted, the three
  defendants could each face up to 10 years in prison and up to $20,000 in fines. The men allegedly ignored Coast Guard warnings to return to
  international waters.