Jury decides against execution for Moussaoui
Charlie Savage
Boston Globe
_________
Washington (US):
A federal jury yesterday spared Zacarias Moussaoui from a death sentence, deciding that the only person charged in connection with the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks should instead spend the rest of his life in a US prison without the possibility of parole
''America, you lost," Moussaoui shouted, clapping his hands as he was led away from the courtroom after the sentence was announced. ''I won."
The verdict dealt a blow to the Justice Department, which had worked on the case for more than four years. Federal prosecutors had argued that Moussaoui should be executed because his lies to the FBI allowed the worst terrorist attack in American history to go forward, resulting in the deaths of almost 3,000 people.
But it was a victory for the defense and an outspoken group of family members of Sept. 11 victims, who had argued Moussaoui wanted to be martyred, and that life in prison would be a harsher sentence than execution.
The 12 jurors, who were not named, decided Moussaoui's fate after seven days of deliberations. They did not fully embrace either the prosecution or the defense view. According to a form returned with the verdict, the jury did not unanimously believe that Moussaoui's lies had caused thousands of deaths. And none believed that he wanted martyrdom, or that a life sentence would be worse than execution.
May 04, 2006
Charlie Savage
Boston Globe
_________
Washington (US):
A federal jury yesterday spared Zacarias Moussaoui from a death sentence, deciding that the only person charged in connection with the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks should instead spend the rest of his life in a US prison without the possibility of parole
''America, you lost," Moussaoui shouted, clapping his hands as he was led away from the courtroom after the sentence was announced. ''I won."
The verdict dealt a blow to the Justice Department, which had worked on the case for more than four years. Federal prosecutors had argued that Moussaoui should be executed because his lies to the FBI allowed the worst terrorist attack in American history to go forward, resulting in the deaths of almost 3,000 people.
But it was a victory for the defense and an outspoken group of family members of Sept. 11 victims, who had argued Moussaoui wanted to be martyred, and that life in prison would be a harsher sentence than execution.
The 12 jurors, who were not named, decided Moussaoui's fate after seven days of deliberations. They did not fully embrace either the prosecution or the defense view. According to a form returned with the verdict, the jury did not unanimously believe that Moussaoui's lies had caused thousands of deaths. And none believed that he wanted martyrdom, or that a life sentence would be worse than execution.
May 04, 2006