Prosecutors can withhold the names of anyone they think would be put in danger by Wade, U.S. District Judge Ralph Beistline ruled this past week.
But, the order says, the prosecution must provide sealed evidence to him that the witnesses they choose to exclude would in fact be endangered.
Prosecutors say they are worried the 29-year-old Wade, who is locked up in solitary confinement, might find a way to intimidate or hurt those set to testify against him.
Wade is accused of killing his Sand Lake neighbor, nurse practitioner Mindy Schloss. Her body was found in September 2007 in a wooded area of Wasilla after she had been missing for weeks.
Wade, who faces a possible death sentence if convicted, has pleaded not guilty.
In both state and federal court, prosecutors normally provide witness lists to defense attorneys ahead of trial to allow them time to study the witnesses' statements and prepare for cross-examination. The practice helps get the truth before jurors and is considered a basic element of a fair trial.
But last month, assistant U.S. attorneys Steve Skrocki and Stephen Cooper filed a motion with the judge saying they don't want to give some witness names to Wade's lawyers, who would normally share them with Wade.
A June letter Wade tried to send from jail to a friend bad-mouthed "snitches" and gave the address of someone he said was a "major suspect of being a lying rat in my case." The letter didn't explicitly advocate retaliation.
Wade's lawyers said the prosecution was blowing things out of proportion and reading too much into the letter. They want the whole witness list by Dec. 1.
In addition to the witness list issue, the question of Wade's marriage to potential witness Lisa Andrews is still being debated in court.
The prosecution says the jailhouse telephone wedding is a sham to keep Andrews from testifying against Wade. A husband or wife usually cannot be forced to testify against a spouse.
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