|
|
|||
|
|||
|
|
Judge Reverses Decision to Bar Moussaoui NewsMax.com Wires ALEXANDRIA, Va. -- Zacarias Moussaoui, the only person charged in connection with the Sept. 11 terror attacks, has been permitted back into court to observe jury selection after having been expelled over terrorist outbursts. U.S. District Judge Leonie Brinkema ruled Tuesday that Moussaoui would be barred from the courtroom during jury selection after he refused during a hearing to refrain from further outbursts. Moussaoui disrupted the first day of jury selection on Feb. 6, leading Brinkema to toss him from court four times that day. When Brinkema asked Moussaoui at Tuesday's hearing how he would behave, the 37-year-old Frenchman of Moroccan descent responded with a diatribe in which he ripped President Bush and disavowed his French citizenship, calling the French "a nation of homosexual crusaders." Moussaoui, whose frequent outbursts have disrupted previous court proceedings, was to watch the process unfold on closed-circuit television from behind locked bars. Story Continues Below
Brinkema gave no explanation in court for her change of mind, but she had said the day before that she might reconsider if he decided to alter his behavior. For the last week, lawyers on both sides have been reading 50-page questionnaires that 500 potential jurors from northern Virginia completed on Feb. 6. They were asked about their opinions of Islam, their reactions to the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks and their feelings about the death penalty, among other things. Individual questioning of potential jurors was beginning Wednesday and will continue until 85 prospective jurors are cleared to sit on the trial. That group will then be reduced to a panel of 18 - a 12-member jury and six alternates - that will hear opening statements. Opening arguments are expected to begin March 6. Last April, Moussaoui pleaded guilty to conspiring with al-Qaida to fly aircraft into U.S. targets. He claimed he had no role in the Sept. 11 plot and instead was training for an aborted second wave of attacks. To win the death penalty, prosecutors must prove Moussaoui was directly involved in the Sept. 11 attacks. They plan to argue that the government could have thwarted the attacks if Moussaoui had not lied to FBI agents about his terrorist connections after his August 2001 arrest on immigration violations. The defense contends the government knew more about the terrorists' plans than Moussaoui, and still was unable to prevent the attacks. In other developments, a Pennsylvania congressman subpoenaed by Moussaoui's lawyers said he does not want to testify. Rep. Curt Weldon, R-Pa., said Tuesday he assumed the defense wants to ask about his knowledge of Able Danger, a classified military intelligence unit. He said he does not believe that information is pertinent to Moussaoui's case. "I think Moussaoui is a thug. I think he deserves to be given the harshest punishment that our country can afford. I don't have any additional information to help them understand what Moussaoui's role was," Weldon said at a news conference. Weldon said he believes he has congressional immunity from the subpoena.
© 2006 Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. Editor's note: Read more on this subject in related Hot Topics:
|
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||
Print Page 
Forward Page 
|
| All Rights Reserved © 2012 NewsMax.Com |