Moussaoui Death Case Looking Better
I have said that as a purely legal matter, the case for giving Moussaoui the death penalty was “fundamentally weak.” But you know what? It just got a whole lot better:
ALEXANDRIA, Va. — Taking the stand over his lawyers’ protests, Al Qaeda conspirator Zacarias Moussaoui testified today that he and Richard Reid, later arrested as the so-called shoe bomber, were slated to hijack a fifth airplane on Sept. 11, 2001, and fly it into the White House.
Moussaoui, speaking publicly for the first time since his arrest a month before the Sept. 11 attacks, said he lied to the FBI so that the plot could go forward.
Yup. That’s pretty much all she wrote.
So now he wants to be a martyr? I sure hope he doesn’t want to be a lawyer because he’d be terrible.
DRJ (3c8cd6) — 3/27/2006 @ 6:09 pmHe’s lying like a worthless dog to make himself look bigger than he is. He definetly knew about the attack, but then so did half of the Clinton administration and we haven’t executed them yet.
scrapiron (a90377) — 3/27/2006 @ 8:55 pmI wonder what the appeal process is like on the federal level. How many generations will it take to carry out the sentence?
Patricia (2cc180) — 3/27/2006 @ 11:18 pmHe definetly knew about the attack, but then so did half of the Clinton administration and we haven’t executed them yet.
Polybius (e56744) — 3/27/2006 @ 11:26 pmI’m sorry, but this is an insane, Charlie Sheenish, statement.
IMHO, the best we can do for ourselves in this case is deny this turkey the death penalty, place him in prison for life without possibility of parole (solitary confinement would be great) and keep the news media away from him. It’s clear he craves the pulpit and the notoriety. Occasionally, the best punishment is simply to turn our backs and stick our fingers in our ears.
Harry Arthur (b318a5) — 3/27/2006 @ 11:33 pmCan he use these ramblings as an insanity defense in an appeal?
Veeshir (5f9b87) — 3/28/2006 @ 4:08 amWhat he’s saying sure looks as if he’s trying to look crazy.
If the Timothy McVeigh case is any indication, the federal appeal will go relatively quickly – certainly faster than state court prosecutions.
DRJ (3c8cd6) — 3/28/2006 @ 8:45 amI’m uneasy with the death penalty in this case. He only tried to kill, and kept his mouth shut. He’s a dirty rat, and deserves whatever he gets. So, I’ll pipe down, and leave it up to the judge and jury.
Black Jack (d8da01) — 3/28/2006 @ 10:24 amBlack Jack, I have the same uneasiness. I’m concerned lest we let him “play” us into making him a martyr. He needs to live a long dull life well away from “paradise”.
Harry Arthur (40c0a6) — 3/28/2006 @ 10:44 amI won’t object if the death penalty is imposed in this case, but I do think this should be treated as a war crime rather than as a criminal prosecution. It’s more realistic. I hope the Supreme Court in Hamdi views it this way, too.
DRJ (3c8cd6) — 3/28/2006 @ 10:51 amFederal appeals are much faster than the current state appeal/state habeas/federal habeas process.
Dude will be dead within five years.
Angry Clam (fa7fff) — 3/28/2006 @ 11:03 amThanks for the info, guys.
As for the martyrdom, I think playing this out to the end will take away from the glamor of it all. Being led into a cold chamber by agents of the Great Satan doesn’t have the same cachet as the imagined glorious death on the battlefield.
Patricia (2cc180) — 3/28/2006 @ 2:21 pmDRJ, the McVeigh case was quick because McVeigh waived his appeal.
James B. Shearer (fc887e) — 3/28/2006 @ 2:28 pmWhen I heard about this, I thought that he’s either decided to go out guns blazing, or that he’s off his rocker; both could be possibilities.
Somehow, it’s a bit difficult to picture someone as inept as Richard Reid as part of a fifth airplane scheme.
Dana (a90377) — 3/28/2006 @ 3:51 pmPatricia, excellent point. My heart has stopped bleeding …
Harry Arthur (b318a5) — 3/28/2006 @ 4:20 pmGood point, Mr. Shearer, but I think that McVeigh only waived one of his appeals. At least one prior appeal made it to the Supreme Court and was denied.
Even if McVeigh had not waived what turned out to be his final appeal, I think that his days were numbered at that point. Compared to state death penalty cases, federal cases are clearly accelerated.
DRJ (3c8cd6) — 3/28/2006 @ 4:35 pmHe’s nuts. Reid too. And the Lind kid. (What kind of parents name their kid Johnny Walker, anyway?) Is there any credible evidence of his involvement in Al Qaeda besides his confession? The Reid case was weird too. The shoes were first exploded and then tested for evidence of explosives? Meantime, a U.S. citizen, Padilla, is shut up for three years in a naval brig while these guys get full Sixth Amendment benefits. They should be in Guantanamo. What happened to those celebrated military tribunals for unlawful combatants?
nk (8214ee) — 3/28/2006 @ 4:38 pmnk asks:
At least their last name wasn’t Black.
Dana (dd8e7e) — 3/28/2006 @ 6:00 pmnk, good question. It does seem that the wheels of justice are a bit out of round, no?
Harry Arthur (b318a5) — 3/28/2006 @ 6:12 pmHow can the U.S. court system convict anyone of anything after the congress turned 10-12 millions criminals loose on the streets. Either a crime is a crime or it’s not. Wouldn’t it be more than right to release every American citizen now serving time in prison? Maybe the prisoners will take control of every prison in the country and it will be a 100% fact the congress will let all of them go. Call me to jury duty again and there is no way i’ll ever vote to convict another person. If I see a crime comitted or know that a crime has been comitted I will no longer report the non-crime. Millions of people need to start doing this tomorrow, let everyone off, there is no such thing as a punishable crime in the country anymore. Demand the prison doors be flung as wide open as the border.
scrapiron (a90377) — 3/28/2006 @ 7:26 pmI don’t see that cleaning the airport terminal is on the same level as hijacking a plane, Scrapiron.
nk (57e995) — 3/28/2006 @ 7:30 pmHere’s an interesting twist to the story.
DRJ (3c8cd6) — 3/28/2006 @ 7:59 pm“”Don’t make him a hero,” MacMahon pleaded.
Prosecutors got Brinkema to bar a repeat of that plea as an emotional rather than legal argument. But she agreed to allow MacMahon to argue Wednesday that evidence of a desire for martyrdom calls into question the credibility of Moussaoui’s confession to being a part of Sept. 11.”
(From the story DRJ linked.)
This seems moderately strange. Anything goes in the death penalty phase. Defense lawyers have been known to say, “Please do not kill my client because I am not a good enough lawyer”. Stranger and stranger.
nk (4d4a9d) — 3/28/2006 @ 8:22 pmSo Martha Stewart taught me that lying to the FBI was illegal, but now Patterico is telling me it’s DEATH PENALTY Illegal?
Patterico for Tsar! Huzzah!
[Do you *really* mean to say something this stupid? Come on. You’re pretending. Right? — P]
jerry (049afa) — 3/29/2006 @ 5:31 amWe cannot know when Moussoui tells the truth and when he is lying. In any case, he did not kill anybody. And his claims to have prepared hijackings are not nececessary true. To prove that he actually prepared hijackings for real, there must be much more than his rantings. But even even he learned to fly in order to hijack an aircraft, he was such a miserable pilot that his instructor in the simulator gave up on him. How could this man endanger anybody? Is he to be sacrified because the US govt. has not indicted any person for actually participating in planning 9/11? And where is the evidence that even one Muslim boarded the four aircraft on 9/11? Has anyone of you seen such evidence? I did not.
Elias Davidsson (4f2f7b) — 4/3/2006 @ 12:31 pmED, I was with your argument until you put on your tinfoil hat and transported yourself into this parallel universe: … And where is the evidence that even one Muslim boarded the four aircraft on 9/11? Has anyone of you seen such evidence? I did not.
Do you seriously believe we don’t know who was on these aircraft?
Harry Arthur (40c0a6) — 4/3/2006 @ 1:39 pm