diff --git a/moses/ChartTranslationOptionList.cpp b/moses/ChartTranslationOptionList.cpp
index e83fbac79..b86312b9d 100644
--- a/moses/ChartTranslationOptionList.cpp
+++ b/moses/ChartTranslationOptionList.cpp
@@ -163,8 +163,14 @@ float ChartTranslationOptionList::GetBestScore(const ChartCellLabel *chartCell)
 {
     const HypoList *stack = chartCell->GetStack().cube;
     assert(stack);
-    assert(!stack->empty());
-    const ChartHypothesis &bestHypo = **(stack->begin());
+    //assert(!stack->empty());
+    if (stack->empty()) {
+    	return 0;
+    }
+    else {
+		const ChartHypothesis &bestHypo = **(stack->begin());
+		return bestHypo.GetTotalScore();
+    }    const ChartHypothesis &bestHypo = **(stack->begin());
     return bestHypo.GetTotalScore();
 }
 
diff --git a/moses/TranslationModel/RuleTable/LoaderStandard.cpp b/moses/TranslationModel/RuleTable/LoaderStandard.cpp
index 9d2e3fa20..47f7378d1 100644
--- a/moses/TranslationModel/RuleTable/LoaderStandard.cpp
+++ b/moses/TranslationModel/RuleTable/LoaderStandard.cpp
@@ -218,7 +218,7 @@ bool RuleTableLoaderStandard::Load(FormatType format
     // parse source & find pt node
 
     // constituent labels
-    Word *sourceLHS;
+    Word *sourceLHS = NULL;
     Word *targetLHS;
 
     // create target phrase obj
@@ -251,6 +251,9 @@ bool RuleTableLoaderStandard::Load(FormatType format
     TargetPhraseCollection &phraseColl = GetOrCreateTargetPhraseCollection(ruleTable, sourcePhrase, *targetPhrase, sourceLHS);
     phraseColl.Add(targetPhrase);
 
+    // not implemented correctly in memory pt. just delete it for now
+    delete sourceLHS;
+
     count++;
   }