Posted on 02/14/2006 12:50:43 PM PST by NormsRevenge
ALEXANDRIA, Va. - Confessed al-Qaida conspirator Zacarias Moussaoui again disrupted his sentencing trial with insults and epithets Tuesday and was barred from the courtroom while a jury is selected to decide whether he is put to death or imprisoned for life.
After verbally sparring with Moussaoui for about 15 minutes, U.S. District Judge Leonie Brinkema ordered that he must watch the remainder of jury selection on closed-circuit television from his courthouse cell. That could take until March 6, when opening statements are scheduled.
Brinkema said her main purpose in Tuesday's hearing was to determine "how Mr. Moussaoui plans to behave: ... whether you plan to remain quiet ... or whether you plan to make speeches."
Moussaoui was ejected four times on Feb. 6 when he denounced his court-appointed lawyers in front of four separate groups of prospective jurors. Some 500 northern Virginia residents filled out questionnaires that day about their attitudes toward the case, the death penalty, Muslims and the FBI.
The 37-year-old Frenchman of Moroccan descent pleaded guilty last April to conspiring with al-Qaida to fly aircraft into U.S. buildings but has denied any role in the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon. Moussaoui claims to have been training to fly a 747 jetliner into the White House as part of a subsequent plot.
When Brinkema asked how he would behave, Moussaoui walked to the lectern and pulled out what appeared to be a handwritten speech. "You have been trying to organize my death for four years," Moussaoui told her.
Clad in a white knit cap and green prison jump suit with "prisoner" in white block letters on the back, Moussaoui launched into another attack on his lawyers and in the process offered diatribes against President Bush and the French people.
At various points, he called Bush "a crusader" who was "launching a new campaign of revenge against terrorists."
Despite his French citizenship, he said in French-accented English: "I'm not French. ... I stand here as a Muslim only. I do not stand here with a nation of homosexual crusaders."
Brinkema repeatedly tried to quiet him. But Moussaoui complained that for four years she had denied him a chance to explain his objections to the lawyers. "Today is my day," he plunged on. "If I can't make sure that those people are not going to represent me, I know that I am dead."
He referred to his three attorneys as a "federal lawyer," a "KKK" (Ku Klux Klan) and a "geisha."
Brinkema sternly broke in: "I'm not going to permit you to use a federal courtroom to malign your lawyers."
Without raising his voice, Moussaoui responded, "You own everything — the defense, the judge, the attack (prosecutors). I am al-Qaida. I am your sworn enemy."
Brinkema: "Mr. Moussaoui, you are the biggest enemy of yourself."
Again she asked if he would remain quiet or leave.
Moussaoui: "I'm going to leave."
"God curse you and America," Moussaoui said as marshals accompanied him out.
Brinkema ruled Moussaoui had forfeited his right to be present for jury selection but said she might reconsider if he later agreed to behave.
Despite requests from news media, Brinkema ruled that no copies of exhibits admitted into evidence — including videotaped depositions from some witnesses and summaries of interrogations of captured al-Qaida leaders — will be made public during the trial. She said jurors might be contaminated by uncontrolled exposure to the material.
"Moreover, some exhibits may be declassified only for the limited purpose of being discussed in court and shown to the jury without unrestricted public access," she added. She said she would decide after trial which exhibits to release.
Brinkema also said Moussaoui's mother, expected to visit from France, could watch on television in an overflow room where her translator would not disrupt proceedings.
Lawyers begin questioning individual jurors Wednesday.
On Capitol Hill, Rep. Curt Weldon (news, bio, voting record), R-Pa., said he would fight a defense subpoena to testify on what he's learned about a military intelligence operation named Able Danger that he says identified some 9/11 hijackers well before the attacks.
"I think Moussaoui is a thug. I think he deserves to be given the harshest punishment," Weldon said. "If they were going to use me, I don't want to be used."
Defense attorneys did not immediately respond to calls asking whether they would still try to enforce the subpoena.
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Associated Press writer Matthew Barakat contributed to this report.
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On the Net:
District court: http://www.vaed.uscourts.gov
Well, that'll be the first excuse to take it to the Supremes.
At least he got that part right. God bless GWB.
Instead of being executed, this terrorist ought to be placed into U.S. custody and subjected to chemical experiments. We need to know everything that he knows. On the other hand, his suicide could be faked. 'Nuff said.
.....shoot first...then ask questions...
It must really bug this smelly little creep that he's got a female judge.
Why are we still spending money on trying this guy....a bullet is a lot cheaper.
Where is the VP when you need 'em? ;-)
LOL!
3 strikes = death penalty! Judge Judy would have none of this. "Do You See My Mouth Moving"?
bttt
Where did I put that big roll of duct tape? This guy and Saddam need a good application.
Why is he, as a foreign national and part of a foreign terrorist plot, being tried in US court? He should have been sent to Gitmo and tried before a military tribunal. The Nazi terrorists who landed on the east coast during WW-II were not tried in US courts including some who were or at least had been US citizens. They went before a miltary tribunal and several were executed.
I guess he never read the book, How To Win Friends and Influence People.
Good thing they have magnetrometers at the doors of the court house. This filthy POS would not be able to reatain a glass of water. It's those lead thingies, you know that causes this condition.
Ramsey Clark advising this group of Islamists also?
And a clothes-pin on his nose. Less O2 consumption that way.
My understanding is that he is being tried for being a terrorist, and was not in uniform. Maybe some JAG lawyers can clarify my understanding of this process.
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