Jurors in Moussaoui Case Pause to Ask for Dictionary
Wednesday, April 26, 2006; Page A06
Just before lunch on the first full day of deliberations, the jurors in the death penalty trial of Zacarias Moussaoui sent word to the judge that they had a question: Could they have a dictionary?
The seventh-floor courtroom was unlocked, and U.S. District Judge Leonie M. Brinkema assembled the jury, attorneys for both sides and Moussaoui, who was brought up from a holding cell where he spent the day waiting to hear whether he will be put to death or spend the rest of his life in prison. No verdict was reached yesterday.
Special Report
A 12-member jury has determined that Zacarias Moussaoui, who pleaded guilty to six counts of conspiring with al Qaeda in the attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, will spend the rest of his life in prison. |
Brinkema denied the request for the dictionary, telling the jury that she could not allow any "extraneous" materials in the jury room, but told the 12 men and women that if they needed any words or terms defined, they should ask her.
"The jury cannot conduct any independent investigations of their own," she said.
The judge reminded jurors that they also could not do any research on the Internet when they returned home at night and that they were to rely only on the evidence presented during the trial.
After the judge and jury left the room, Moussaoui -- dressed in his usual green prison jumpsuit -- shouted, "747, fly to London!" It was an apparent reference to a dream in which he is set free from prison by President Bush before his second term expires. Moussaoui had shared the dream with the jury during his testimony.
The jury deliberated about three hours Monday and more than seven hours yesterday. The request for the dictionary was the only question of the day. The jurors did not share what they had hoped to look up. Deliberations are to resume at 8:30 this morning.
Moussaoui, 37, pleaded guilty last year to conspiring with al-Qaeda. He is the only person charged in the United States in connection with the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. The jury that is deciding his fate found him eligible for the death penalty this month.
The jury must complete a 42-page verdict form with detailed questions, including whether any jurors believe that life in prison "will be a more severe punishment for Zacarias Moussaoui than a sentence of death."
Another question asks whether any members of the jury think that Moussaoui believes that his execution "will be part of his Jihad and will provide him with the rewards attendant to a martyr's death."
