Moussaoui's Fate Is In The Jury's Hands.

Source: Washington Post

The only question remains, do they make Zacarias Moussaoui a martyr or give him life in prison?

He has one thing going against his wish to enter martyrdom: a federal jury in Alexandria, VA, has never voted for the sentence of death.

Jurors began deliberating the fate of Sept. 11, 2001, conspirator Zacarias Moussaoui yesterday after prosecutors implored them to send a message to the terrorists who would strike America again and sentence the al-Qaeda operative to death.

"This is the United States of America, and we are not going to put up with a bunch of thugs who invoke God's name to slaughter 3,000 people," said Assistant U.S. Attorney David J. Novak, during closing arguments in which prosecutors called Moussaoui "pure evil" and said "there is no place on this good Earth" for him.

Defense attorneys countered that jurors should reject the "easy answer" of sentencing Moussaoui to death. Because Moussaoui is seeking martyrdom, defense attorney Gerald T. Zerkin suggested, the jury should do the opposite and force him to spend the rest of his life withering in prison.

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