US weighs deal, death for suspect

The Dallas Morning News ^ | 12/29/01 | Mark Curriden

[Joan912]

12/29/2001 By MARK CURRIDEN / The Dallas Morning News

The Bush administration is wrestling with a tough decision on how to prosecute its first post-Sept. 11 terrorism defendant: go all-out for the death penalty or offer to spare his life in exchange for information that might help thwart future attacks.

National security and intelligence officials want federal prosecutors to consider offering a plea bargain to Zacarias Moussaoui of France if he would agree to identify al-Qaeda terrorists plotting more violence, lawyers familiar with the issue say.

That desire to debrief Mr. Moussaoui escalated this week with reports that he attended the same London mosque as Richard Reid, the man accused of trying to ignite explosives in his shoes on a trans-Atlantic flight last weekend.

But U.S. Department of Justice hard-liners oppose any plea offer for the Moroccan-born defendant. They say they have a powerful case and argue that the best way to use it to fight terrorism is to vigorously prosecute Mr. Moussaoui and sentence him to death.

Mr. Moussaoui is suspected of training for a role in the suicide hijackings that killed thousands in New York, Washington, D.C., and Pennsylvania. He was arrested on immigration charges in August and has been in custody since. He has not cooperated with authorities.

He is scheduled to be arraigned Jan. 2 at a federal court hearing in Alexandria, Va. He will plead not guilty, said Frank Dunham, his court-appointed lawyer.

So far, people close to the case say, there have been no talks with Mr. Moussaoui, and prosecutors are pressing for a spring trial. Mr. Dunham declined to comment on the possibility of a plea agreement. There is also no evidence that the defendant, who prosecutors say was ready to die in the attacks, would take an offer.

The Justice Department declined to comment on a potential deal, but "these are issues we are obviously taking a look at," spokesman Bryan Sierra said Thursday.

Some lawyers who have handled national security cases say the government must make every effort to learn what Mr. Moussaoui knows as part of the effort to prevent future terrorist attacks.

"There are real pressures on the government to settle this case," said William Sessions, a former federal judge and FBI director. "The question is, what is in the best interest of this country? Prosecute him or find out what he knows?"

There's precedent for the latter, some lawyers note.

Hanssen situation

This year, prosecutors charged FBI counterintelligence agent Robert Hanssen with spying for Russia for more than two decades. The Justice Department originally sought the death penalty because Mr. Hanssen's actions had caused several American informants to be killed.

But intelligence officials trumped their colleagues, persuading the Bush administration to not seek the death penalty. Mr. Hanssen will be sentenced Jan. 11 in the courthouse where Mr. Moussaoui will be arraigned.

In announcing that agreement in July, Attorney General John Ashcroft said the decision to waive the death penalty against Mr. Hanssen "was a difficult one," reached after the "strong recommendation of the intelligence community."

This month, the government reached a plea arrangement with convicted millennium terrorist Ahmed Ressam, awaiting sentencing for an attempt to bomb Los Angeles International Airport two years ago.

In the deal, Mr. Ressam identified fellow al-Qaeda trainees, picking Mr. Moussaoui out of a photo line-up as someone he met while training with 100 others in Afghanistan in 1998, prosecutors said.

The CIA and National Security Agency also prefer to settle cases before trial because they dislike having their agents and information put on display.

"Intelligence agencies never want to publicly expose their people or their sources of information," said Mr. Sessions, who practices law in San Antonio and is advising the Bush administration on terrorism-related matters.

"The CIA and NSA want total control of their information."

The Justice Department often wants the death penalty in treason or terrorism cases, "but sometimes, the pursuit of justice and the best interest of national security do not intersect," said Terry Hart, a Dallas lawyer and former federal prosecutor who has handled several national security cases.

"Sparing this guy's life could save the lives of many others for years to come."

Not the same

But it is unclear how eager national security officials are to intervene in the Moussaoui case, or whether their arguments would carry as much weight as usual.

Many who have looked at the case say it is different from past spying cases, partly because of the deaths and devastation involved.

The Bush administration and Mr. Ashcroft can use the trial of Mr. Moussaoui to showcase for the world evidence they have collected against Mr. bin Laden and al-Qaeda.

A death sentence for Mr. Moussaoui would serve as a symbol of America's response to terrorism, said Chuck Rosenberg, a Virginia lawyer who stepped down this year as one of the government's top terrorism and espionage prosecutors.

In announcing the indictments against Mr. Moussaoui on Dec. 11, Mr. Ashcroft declared: "Al-Qaeda will now meet the justice it abhors and the justice it fears."

Mr. Moussaoui is accused of conspiring with others, including Osama bin Laden, in the Sept. 11 attacks. But he never got a chance to become the 20th hijacker, his indictment says, because agents arrested him after a Minnesota flight school became suspicious of his desire to learn to fly jetliners.

Four of the six counts in the indictment carry a maximum penalty of death. If prosecutors decide to seek the death penalty, they must tell the court by March 29.

What can he tell us?

The deciding factor in whether the government offers Mr. Moussaoui a deal will be how much he knows about al-Qaeda and its network, lawyers say.

He may be able to finger terrorists who trained in camps in Afghanistan and are now in the United States, or name others outside the country who are sympathetic to Mr. bin Laden.

But "unless Moussaoui convinces the government that he has information that they need to know, I don't think he's going to get a deal," said Mr. Rosenberg.

"If Moussaoui is like the other 19 hijackers and is simply a foot soldier, then he doesn't really know anything and has nothing to offer the government."

And there are others who believe that Mr. Moussaoui would never entertain the idea of cooperating with U.S. prosecutors anyway.

"Why would Moussaoui cut a deal to save his life? After all, he was apparently willing to fly a plane into a building, killing himself because of his beliefs," said University of Georgia law professor Eugene Wilkes.

Any deal to save Mr. Moussaoui's life would probably keep him in prison the rest of his life, lawyers say. It would also probably require that he fully describe his dealings with al-Qaeda, review pictures of potential suspects, and testify against other al-Qaeda members in court, they say.

In the end, any decision must be viewed through a political lens, said Mr. Sessions.

He said there is a public thirst for justice that runs against cutting a deal with Mr. Moussaoui.

"The administration is going to be damned if it does and damned if it doesn't," he said.

"The question is, is the government willing to take the political heat in return for getting information?"

[Joan912]

Zacarias Moussaoui will never spill the beans about anything, especially since he hasn't cooperated yet with US officials. How long will federal officials try to debrief him before they figure this out? Moussaoui ought to be put to death since he remains a huge threat to the public.