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Lord Borg
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Location: Vulcan Capital City, Vulcan
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 Mon Apr 03, 2006 3:35 pm Moussaoui jury reaches verdict |
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| CNN.com wrote: | ALEXANDRIA, Virginia (CNN) -- The jury in the Zacarias Moussaoui case has reached a verdict on the question of whether the al Qaeda operative should be eligible for the death penalty, court officials said Monday.
The jurors, who had been deliberating since late Wednesday, made the announcement shortly before 3 p.m.
The decision is to be announced by 4 p.m.
The nine men and three women reached their verdict on the fourth day of deliberations.
The panel is deciding only whether Moussaoui is eligible for the death penalty.
To find that he is, the jury must unanimously agree that prosecutors proved Moussaoui intentionally lied to federal agents who interrogated him in August 2001, that he lied with lethal intent, and that his lies directly resulted in at least one death in the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.
"He concealed the valuable information that he had about the impending attacks," prosecutor David Raskin said last week, summarizing the government's case.
"If the defendant hadn't lied," he said, the government could have used Moussaoui's leads "to prevent the attacks or at least some part of the attacks."
Moussaoui, 37, pleaded guilty last year to six terrorism conspiracy charges stemming from the plot to hijack planes and crash them into prominent buildings.
It wasn't until he testified last week that Moussaoui claimed advanced knowledge of the September 11 plot or a role in it, a reversal of his previous statements.
Moussaoui told jurors that he was aware the twin towers of the World Trade Center were on a suicide hijacking target list, and that he was training to crash a jetliner into the White House.
The government produced no evidence of a fifth plane or hijacking team during the trial.
"Why? Because it's just not true," said defense attorney Edward MacMahon in his closing argument. He said his client's story was "simply not worthy of belief."
Three of the charges Moussaoui pleaded guilty to exposed him to the death penalty -- the conspiracies to commit acts of terrorism transcending national boundaries, to destroy aircraft, and to use weapons of mass destruction.
In its first note to the court, the jury asked U.S. District Judge Leonie Brinkema to define what was meant by "weapons of mass destruction."
For purposes of this case, WMD means "using airplanes as missiles or bombs," the judge said.
If determining the government has met its burden of proof, the 12-person jury must be unanimous.
To proceed to the next phase of the trial, when the jury would decide whether to actually impose the death penalty after hearing more testimony and evidence, the jury must answer "yes" to all questions underneath any one of the death-eligible counts on a verdict form. |
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Lord Borg
Fleet Admiral
Joined: 27 May 2003
Posts: 11214
Location: Vulcan Capital City, Vulcan
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| Mon Apr 03, 2006 3:37 pm Moussaoui eligible for death penalty |
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| Quote: | Al Qaeda operative testified he knew in advance of attacks
ALEXANDRIA, Virginia (CNN) -- Al Qaeda conspirator Zacarias Moussaoui is eligible for the death penalty, a federal jury decided Monday in the first U.S. trial about the September 11, 2001, attacks.
"The jury has found that death is a possible sentence in this case," the court's public information officer, Edward Adams, told reporters.
Jurors agreed with federal prosecutors that Moussaoui's lies to FBI agents resulted in 9/11 deaths. The nine men and three women reached their verdict on the fourth day of deliberations.
The jury's verdict means the trial will continue after a brief recess with additional witnesses and evidence. The jurors now must decide whether Moussaoui will be executed for his role in the 9/11 deaths.
Moussaoui, 37, a Frenchman of Moroccan descent, admitted last year that he conspired with al Qaeda, the terrorist group responsible for September 11, to hijack and crash planes into prominent U.S. buildings.
Until he testified at the trial, Moussaoui insisted he had no advance knowledge of or role in the plot. But on the witness stand, Moussaoui claimed he knew the World Trade Center was a target and that he would have piloted a fifth jetliner into the White House. (Full story)
In the second phase of the sentencing trial, prosecutors plan to tell the jury stories of dozens of September 11 victims. About 40 relatives will describe the impact of their losses.
Defense witnesses are expected to describe Moussaoui's troubled family history, his struggles with racism and relocation in France and his vulnerability to radical fundamentalist Islamic recruiters. His mother may return from France to testify. Mental health experts are expected to say Moussaoui is schizophrenic. (Watch Moussaoui's mom talk about his fondness for American films -- 2:22)
Case focused on statements
The first phase of the trial revolved around Moussaoui's statements to the FBI following his arrest in mid-August 2001 after arousing suspicions at a Minnesota flight school.
Moussaoui said he was in flight school for fun and was visiting the United States as a tourist. Moussaoui concealed his al Qaeda ties, his real reason for jet simulator training and the hijackings conspiracy itself.
Prosecutors needed to prove Moussaoui lied intentionally and with lethal intent. His surprising testimony, as the last defense witness, became the centerpiece of the trial.
"I didn't say the truth," Moussaoui testified. "Because I am al Qaeda. Because I am at war with this country."
Prosecutor Robert Spencer asked him, "The reason you lied was to allow the people that you knew were in the United States to go forward with the hijackings, right?"
Moussaoui replied, "You can say that."
Moussaoui testified that the Prophet Mohammed, the patriarch of Islam, taught, "War is deceit." Lying is permissible during jihad, or holy war, Moussaoui added. "You are allowed any technique to deceive your enemy."
Although there was no evidence Moussaoui had any contact with the 19 September 11 hijackers in the United States, his actions -- attending flight schools, joining gyms, wearing casual Western clothing, trimming his beard -- echoed theirs.
Moussaoui 'in the middle of it'
"These similarities can't be dismissed as mere coincidence," prosecutor David Raskin said in closing arguments. "He was in the middle of it, just like he told you from the witness stand."
A top aviation security official, Robert Cammaroto, testified that had Moussaoui told the truth in August, the Federal Aviation Administration could have issued security directives banning passengers from carrying short knives, screening luggage and conducting physical searches of passengers and carry-on bags. (Full story)
Cammaroto said had the hijackers' names been revealed, they could have been added to a "no-fly" list.
"Between the FBI and the FAA, none of them would have been able to get on any of those planes," prosecutor Raskin told the jury.
Prosecutors argued that Moussaoui's lies directly resulted in deaths because one hijacking pilot or crew could have been stopped, and some of the 2,973 people killed on September 11 would be alive today.
Moussaoui claimed to have recognized lead hijacker Mohammed Atta from al Qaeda's terror camps in Afghanistan and said he knew he was "big time," because he saw him frequently in the company of Khalid Shaikh Mohammed, al Qaeda's operations leader and architect of the planes plot.
Mohammed, however, told the court through a written interrogation summary that Moussaoui was sent to the United States for a potential second wave of attacks to follow September 11.
"Moussaoui was not involved in the first attack," the statement said. "Mohammed did not tell him the operational details or individuals involved." (Full story)
Defense attorney Edward MacMahon portrayed his client as an untrusted "grifter" who traveled alone, not in pairs like the real hijackers, and did not participate in any coast-to-coast dry run flights. He told jurors to discount Moussaoui's testimony.
'Headache' for al Qaeda
"Moussaoui was never slated other than his dreams to be involved," MacMahon said. "Moussaoui was useless to al Qaeda, a headache, obnoxious to everyone he encountered."
MacMahon told jurors the September 11 attack date was not fixed until after Moussaoui's arrest, and there was no evidence of a fifth targeted plane.
The defense sought to poke holes in the government theory that the pre-9/11 "dysfunctional" government would have responded rapidly to Moussaoui's "truth."
MacMahon said the "could have" scenario is "nothing but a dream" and admonished jurors not to view the case through "post-9/11 glasses."
FBI headquarters thwarted Agent Harry Samit's efforts to obtain search warrants, the evidence showing he sent 70 warnings about Moussaoui. Two supervisors Samit labeled "criminally negligent" were later promoted. One wrote in an early Moussaoui assessment: "There's no indication of nefarious activity here." |
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