Third Indictment for Moussaoui
Feds Want Death Penalty

July 16, 2002

ALEXANDRIA, Va.  — A federal grand jury Tuesday indicted Zacarias Moussaoui a third time, spelling out conduct that could trigger the death penalty for man accused of conspiracy in connection with the Sept. 11 attacks.


The Bush administration had said that it would seek to execute Moussaoui if he were convicted of conspiracy to commit terrorism and other charges related to the attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon.

Prosecutors returned to the grand jury because the Supreme Court ruled last month that juries, not judges, must make the crucial decisions on life or death.

The indictment said that Moussaoui:

— Participated in an act contemplating a person's life would be taken or intending that lethal force would be used.

— Intentionally engaged in an act of violence knowing that act created a grave risk of death.

— Knowingly created a grave risk of death to one or more persons in addition to victims of the offense.

— Committed offenses in an especially heinous, cruel and depraved manner involving torture and serious physical abuse.

— Committed offenses after substantial planning and premeditation to cause the death of a person and commit an act of terrorism.

Moussaoui is the only individual charged in connection with the attacks. The original indictment accused him of plotting with the 19 hijackers and taking similar actions, including enrolling in flight schools. While government officials believe he was planning to be the 20th hijacker, Moussaoui was in custody on Sept. 11 on immigration violations.

The second indictment of Moussaoui dropped references in the earlier version to allegations he sought information on crop dusting aircraft and changed some dates of his conduct.

Last week, the court-appointed lawyer for Moussaoui, Frank Dunham Jr., filed a motion contending the high court ruling should bar the government from seeking the death penalty in the case.

Dunham, who remains in the case despite Moussaoui's attempts to have him dismissed, contended that a grand jury must specifically consider the death penalty issue. Moussaoui is serving as his own lawyer.

Dunham contended that even a revised indictment dealing with the death penalty should not allow the government to seek Moussaoui's execution. He said only Congress could fix flaws in the federal law as a result of the Supreme Court ruling.

The court's ruling means that the circumstances of the crime that prosecutors claim make the defendant eligible for the death penalty must be explained in the indictment and reviewed by a jury.

The federal death penalty law, like those in most states, draws a line between crimes that can trigger a death sentence and those that cannot. Murder by itself does not make a defendant eligible for that sentence; there must be what prosecutors call aggravating factors, or circumstances of the crime, which make it particularly egregious.

For example, under the federal system, the killing of a law enforcement officer is a capital crime, as is a killing that results in the destruction of federal property or of private property that is involved in foreign or interstate commerce.

Moussaoui is charged with conspiracy to commit terrorism, pirate aircraft, destroy aircraft, use weapons of mass destruction, murder U.S. government employees and destroy property.

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,57827,00.html