US Jury Rules Moussaoui Eligible for Death Penalty for Role in 9/11 Attacks
03 April 2006
The jury in the trial of Zacarias Moussaoui has decided that death is a possible sentence for the confessed al-Qaida conspirator.
After four days of deliberation jurors at a U.S. federal court outside Washington have ruled that Moussaoui was responsible for at least one death in the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, making him eligible to be put to death.
The verdict was read Monday by a spokesman for the court in front of the courtroom.
Jurors will now have to decide if the 37-year-old Frenchman deserves to die. They will be hearing testimony in the second phase of the trial that could include statements from the families of the victims of the September 11 attacks.
Moussaoui is the only person to have been charged in connection with the September 11 attacks
Moussaoui was arrested in August, 2001 on immigration violations while he was taking lessons to fly a large commercial aircraft.
He eventually pleaded guilty, and told authorities he was training to fly a jet into the White House in a second wave of attacks. However, last week, Moussaoui testified he was part of the September 11 plot.
The prosecution's case nearly fell apart last month when a government lawyer was found to have coached key witnesses against the judge's order. Those witnesses were barred from testifying.
Moussaoui's defense attorneys have argued their client made up a September 11 link in an attempt to glorify himself.
Some information for this report was provided by AFP, AP and Reuters.
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