For Victims' Families, Verdict Elicits Mix of Shock, Relief

Abraham Scott had tears in his eyes yesterday as he left Courtroom 700. He had wanted Zacarias Moussaoui to get the death penalty and now, after hearing much of the wrenching testimony himself, he could not believe the jury did not agree with him.

"I felt the same way I remember feeling on the day after September 11," he said, "when I kept hoping that someone would call me and tell me that my wife had not been killed at the Pentagon, that she was alive."

Outside the federal courthouse in Alexandria and in telephone interviews last evening, relatives of the victims expressed a range of feelings about the jury's verdict. Some, like Scott, were disappointed that Moussaoui would not be executed. Others said they thought spending the rest of his life in prison might be worse than death -- and deprive him of becoming a martyr.

Family members played a prominent role inside the courtroom during the second phase of the trial, after jurors had decided that Moussaoui was eligible for the death penalty.

The prosecution called more than three dozen men and women to the witness stand, where many recalled the abject pain and suffering their families had endured -- and still endure -- since the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks. Some broke down on the stand. Some said they were still paralyzed by their grief. Moussaoui mocked them all.

Moussaoui's attorneys turned to a rare courtroom tactic by calling some relatives of the victims as defense witnesses. Although they were not allowed to say whether they favored life in prison over execution, they spoke of their recovery and used words such as "compassion" and "respect for life" when they spoke of their loss.

It is unclear what impact, if any, the testimony of families on behalf of the defense had on the jury's decision. For security reasons, the nine men and three women were anonymous, identified only by their juror number.

The trial was conducted amid tight security inside and outside the federal courthouse. Forty-five minutes before the verdict was announced at 4:30 p.m., about 10 motorcycle officers roared into the plaza in front of the building, parked their bikes and stood between the building and the media city.

As the family members, including Scott, came out the front door, construction came to a halt on a building opposite the front door. When the trial began with jury selection Feb. 6, there had been only a hole in the ground at the construction site.

Rosemary Dillard, whose husband died Sept. 11 at the Pentagon, stood at a bank of microphones and began talking. "We can't hear you!" reporters screamed. She shouted that she respected the jury's decision to incarcerate Moussaoui for the rest of his life. The verdict, she said, bolsters her belief that the United States is a just and fair country.

"We showed the world what we do to terrorists," said Dillard, whose husband, Eddie, was on American Airlines Flight 77 when it was crashed into the Pentagon. "We'll show them respect no matter how much disrespect they show us. It makes us a finer society."

Dillard, who also attended much of the trial, said she never figured out if Moussaoui is "in his right mind or playing a game." Dillard has never said publicly if she wanted life or death for Moussaoui and wouldn't reveal her feelings yesterday. "That's only for me," she said. "I know America is a fair place to live."