WASHINGTON, 3 October 2003 — A US judge yesterday barred prosecutors from seeking the death penalty for Frenchman Zacarias Moussaoui, the only person charged in the United States over the Sept. 11 attacks.
Judge Leonie Brinkema ruled that prosecutors cannot present evidence at trial saying Moussaoui helped plan the 2001 attacks on New York and Washington in which about 3,000 people died.
Each of the six charges against Moussaoui is linked to Sept. 11 and Brinkema’s latest ruling is a stinging rebuke for the government case. Brinkema has also resisted the federal government, which does not want Moussaoui to call Al-Qaeda leaders as witnesses in his defense. She said Moussaoui cannot get a fair trial, while the government pointed to security problems. The judge had considered dropping all charges against Moussaoui, as the defense has requested.
Brinkema, sitting in the Washington suburbs of Alexandria, Virginia, “ordered that the government’s Notice of Intent to seek a sentence of death and notice of special findings be and are stricken.” Her ruling also “ordered that the United States may not present at trial any evidence or argument that the defendant was involved in or had knowledge of the planning or execution of the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.”
Moussaoui has been conducting his own defense, but Gerald Zerkin, one of three court-appointed lawyers for the Frenchman, said: “I think it’s a great decision, because it takes the death penalty off the table. I don’t know what the government will do, I won’t event speculate on that.”
He added: “The government won’t provide witnesses who have specific information on 9/11 and have beneficial information about what goes toward whether he’s eligible for the death penalty.”
Prosecutors have been battling Brinkema over Moussaoui’s attempts to question top Al-Qaeda detainees for several months. Moussaoui has asked to question Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, considered Al-Qaeda’s No. 3 official, who was captured in Pakistan in March; Ramzi Binalshib, another alleged Sept. 11 conspirator; and Hambali, Al-Qaeda’s alleged Southeast Asian mastermind.
Moussaoui, who has pledged allegiance to Osama Bin Laden, has admitted that he was to stage an attack but denied he was part of the Sept. 11 plot. He says the three can prove his innocence. Brinkema ruled in January that Moussaoui should have access to Al-Qaeda officials. The government has refused the request for national security reasons. All three so-called “enemy combatants” are held at secret locations.
The Justice Department has indicated it would like the case dropped so that it can take the case before a different court. The department, in particular, sees a dismissal as a way to get an appeals court to rule on whether Moussaoui should have access to Al-Qaeda suspects.
