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04 May 2006

Moussaoui Received Fair Trial, Bush Says

Jury sentences conspirator in September 11, 2001, attacks to life in prison

By Alexandra Abboud
Washington File Staff Writer

Washington – A federal jury in Virginia has spared the life of Zacarias Moussaoui, who was convicted of conspiring in the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks in the United States.

After six weeks of deliberation over the fate of Moussaoui, who pled guilty to six charges of conspiracy in 2005, the jury found, in a decision announced May 3, that Moussaoui should not be sentenced to death but will face life imprisonment. (See related article.)

President Bush on May 3 said that Moussaoui had received a fair trial. "The jury convicted him to life in prison, where he will spend the rest of his life,” Bush said on May 3. “In so doing, they spared his life, which is something that he evidently wasn't willing to do for innocent American citizens."

Moussaoui was tried in a U.S. federal court, where administration of the death penalty requires a unanimous vote by jurors.  The judge in the case is bound by the jury’s verdict; Moussaoui formally was sentenced on May 4. (See related article.)

While deliberating Moussaoui’s fate, the 12 jurors considered “mitigating factors,” a term in U.S. criminal law referring to conditions that do not excuse criminal conduct but may be considered out of fairness or mercy when a penalty is being decided after a conviction. 

The jurors in the Moussaoui case considered 20 mitigating circumstances.  Nine of the 12 jurors, for example, cited Moussaoui’s unstable childhood and abusive father as mitigating factors in their verdict. 

Moussaoui, a 37-year-old Frenchman of Moroccan decent, is the only person to be convicted by a U.S. court in connection with the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.

President Bush said the decision marks the end of the Moussaoui case but not an end to the U.S. fight against terrorism. “The enemy that struck our shores on September 11th is still active and remains determined to kill Americans,” Bush said. “We have had many victories, yet there is much left to do, and I will not relent in this struggle for the freedom and security of the American people.”

For more information, see U.S. Legal System and Rule of Law.

The full text of President Bush’s statement on the Moussaoui trial is available on the White House Web site.

(The Washington File is a product of the Bureau of International Information Programs, U.S. Department of State. Web site: http://usinfo.state.gov)