Posted on 04/28/2002 4:31:03 AM PDT by knighthawk
ALEXANDRIA: Zacarias Moussaoui, accused of having planned to join the September 11 attacks on America, argued on Friday that the US government could not seek the death penalty against him because he had not been charged with any acts that directly caused deaths.
In papers filed in the US District Court in Alexandria, Virginia, Moussaoui's defence team asked Judge Leonie Brinkema to bar the government from seeking the death penalty.
Last month prosecutors told the court Moussaoui -- the only person indicted for the attacks that destroyed the World Trade Center and killed some 3,000 people -- should be executed.
Moussaoui has been charged with conspiring with Saudi-born militant Osama Bin Laden and his al-Qaeda network to carry out the hijacked plane attacks, in which 19 hijackers died. US officials have said Moussaoui may have been preparing to be the 20th hijacker.
"None of the acts Moussaoui is alleged to have committed, including the act of joining the conspiracy, regardless of the criminal intent of that conspiracy, can be said to have directly caused any deaths," Moussaoui's defence team said in the motion.
"It simply cannot be said that Moussaoui's alleged joining of the conspiracies alleged in the indictment to commit the attacks of September 11, directly resulted in that attack and the deaths of any victim of that attack."
Moussaoui, a 33-year-old French citizen who was in custody on immigration charges on September 11, has been indicted on six counts -- four of which carry a possible death sentence.
The defence response to the US government's decision to seek the death penalty came after Moussaoui told Brinkema on Monday he wanted to defend himself and fire his court-appointed lawyers, saying they did not understand him and were part of a conspiracy to kill him.
The defence team was ordered to remain in place pending results of a mental exam to determine Moussaoui's competency to represent himself in court. The latest filing was signed by Moussaoui and all four lawyers.
Moussaoui in jail during hijackings
The defence team said in its motion that the 19 suspected hijackers were in the United States and in contact with each other before Moussaoui arrived in the country, and noted that Moussaoui was in jail for an entire month before September 11.
"The hijackers successfully completed the hijackings without any assistance from him," they said, noting that the US government had not accused Moussaoui of contact with any of the 19 hijackers.
The defence said just joining a conspiracy -- even one that contemplated causing many deaths -- could not be punished by a death sentence under the Federal Death Penalty Act.
"When all is said and done, the government wants to execute someone so badly for the events of September 11 that, because no one else is available, it is willing to ignore the plain requirements of the law to make Moussaoui death-eligible not based on anything he actually did, but on what it insists he wanted to do," the motion said.
"If the government intends to rely on some acts other than the joining of a conspiracy as the predicate for his death eligibility, the fact is that no other specific act which he is alleged to have committed or in which he allegedly participated contributed in any way to the September 11 attacks," it said.
The defence also disputed one of the nonstatutory aggravating factors cited by prosecutors when they announced they would seek the death penalty.
In its March 28 court filing, the government said: "Moussaoui, a French citizen, entered the United States where he then enjoyed the educational opportunities available in a free society, for the purpose of gaining specialized knowledge in flying an aircraft in order to kill as many American citizens as possible."
Moussaoui's lawyers accused the prosecution of trying to pander to the public or jury by "waving the flag".
"The government's attempt to put him to death based upon his French citizenship and his entry into the United States as a foreign national is unconstitutional," they said. "Therefore this factor must be stricken."
Gee, what say we let him out so he can have another shot at it?
Along with--and this is how he described him in the transcript of his last hearing--"Brother Reid." After all, neither one actually completed the act so they get a "Get Out of Jail Free" card, according to Moussaoui.
He is not a US citizen and is clearly linked to being part of the terrorist acts of 9-11 -- why should he be given the rights accorded to US citizens? He and the so-called shoe bomber should face a military tribunal and quick justice.
Then he says"But if I had,there'd be none of ya left."
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