| Monday, March 27, 2006 |
| You are the jury |
Talkleft has the verdict form that will confront jurors in the Zacharias Moussaoui trial. The questions:
- Do you, the jury, unanimously find that the Government has established beyond a reasonable doubt that the defendant intentionally participated in an act, i.e. lying to federal agents on August 16-17, 2001.
- Do you, the jury, unanimously find that the Government has established beyond a reasonable doubt that the defendant participated in the act, i.e. lying to federal agents on August 16-17, 2001, contemplating that the life of a person would be taken or intending that lethal force would be used in connection with a person, other than one of the participants in the offense.
- Do you, the jury, unanimously find that the Government has established beyond a reasonable doubt that victims died on September 11, 2001, as a direct result of the defendant's act, i.e. Mr. Moussaoui's lies to federal agents on August 16-17, 2001.
Talkleft predicts a finding for life in prison. We'll see... I'd guess that Moussaoui is probably as good as dead (although I wouldn't match my amateur legal skills against Jeralyn Merritt's expert ones for all the tea in China...) If I'm right, the prospect of Moussaoui's execution would likely touch off yet another round of conflagration between Muslims around the world and the U.S. -- ironic given the right's embrace of Abdul Rahman. Either way, the U.S. can't win this one on the basis of international sympathy over 9/11 - that has long since drained away in the morass of the Iraq war.
Funny that...
One thing the Moussaoui trial has made clear: The FBI screwed up, royally, before 9/11. Another thing it has made clear: there's a reason most lawyers advise their clients not to take the stand. Moussaoui's nuts. Clearly. And he seems to be trying to aggrandize himself by claiming that yes, in fact, he really was supposed to be the "fifth hijacker." The feds at this point don't even believe that one...
Anyway, for the truly nerdy (like myself) here's the federal indictment against Moussaoui.
Tags: Moussaoui, Terrorism, bin Laden, 11, Law, Bush. |
posted by JReid @ 3:56 PM   |
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