The long legal saga of convicted terrorist and 9/11 co-conspirator Zacarias Moussaoui may be now be over.
A federal appeals court on Monday affirmed the conviction and life sentence for convicted terrorist and 9/11 co-conspirator Zacarias Moussaoui.
updated: Fri Dec 25 2009 22:23:00
CNN's Ali Velshi talks with terrorism analyst Peter Bergen about the suspect in an incident on an airplane.
The attempted attack on a Northwest Airlines flight Friday fell almost to the day eight years after another failed solo attack on an international flight.
Lawyers for convicted September 11 conspirator Zacarias Moussaoui urged an appeals court panel Monday to throw out his guilty plea and grant their client a new trial. They argued Moussaoui did not have an adequate defense and lacked key information to defend himself.
Two flight instructors who alerted the FBI about Zacarias Moussaoui are asking why they weren't recognized along with a fellow instructor, who collected a $5 million reward from the government this week.
A Minnesota flight instructor who notified his bosses of student Zacarias Moussaoui's suspicious behavior received a $5 million reward Thursday from the State Department, two government officials told CNN.
Al Qaeda identified a Saudi militant, who was killed in 2004, as the 20th hijacker in the September 11, 2001, attack on the United States, according to a statement published Tuesday on an Islamist Web site.
A Web site message purportedly from Osama bin Laden says admitted al Qaeda follower Zacarias Moussaoui had nothing to do with the attacks of September 11, 2001.
Convicted al Qaeda conspirator Zacarias Moussaoui had no idea they were coming when federal marshals showed up in the middle of the night to take him to the nation's highest-security federal prison to begin serving his life sentence Saturday.
Convicted September 11 conspirator Zacarias Moussaoui says he lied on the witness stand about being involved in the terrorist plot and wants to withdraw his guilty plea and go to trial. The judge turned him down.
Zacarias Moussaoui is the first person convicted in the United States for his role in the 9/11 attacks. On the seventh day of deliberations, jurors returned with a verdict of life in prison without parole, rejecting the U.S. government's request Moussaoui be executed.
With Zacarais Moussaoui headed for lifetime confinement at a federal prison for a minor role in the 9/11 attacks, the question arises of what will happen to the alleged planners who are in U.S. custody.
Zacarias Moussaoui's family in France blame Islamic radicals in Britain for turning a once carefree youth into a dangerous terrorist.
Publicly blasting the United States one last time, al Qaeda terrorist Zacarias Moussaoui was formally sentenced to life in prison Thursday for his role in the September 11 attacks.
The following is a partial statement read Wednesday by court spokesman Edward Adams regarding 23 mitigating factors considered by jurors in the sentencing trial of admitted al Qaeda conspirator Zacarias Moussaoui:
Jurors were divided Wednesday on the 23 mitigating factors presented by the defense team in the sentencing trial of admitted al Qaeda conspirator Zacarias Moussaoui, according to court documents.
The jury in the case of al Qaeda conspirator Zacarias Moussaoui recommended Wednesday that he should receive life in prison rather than the death penalty for his role in the attacks of September 11, 2001, on the United States.
Al Qaeda terrorist Zacarias Moussaoui should spend the rest of his life in prison for his role in the September 11, 2001, attacks on the United States, a federal jury determined Wednesday.
Jurors deciding whether Zacarias Moussaoui should be executed began their fifth day of deliberations Monday.
The jury in the sentencing trial of al Qaeda plotter Zacarias Moussaoui completed four days of deliberations without reaching a verdict and will return to the courthouse Monday.
Deliberations in the sentencing trial of al Qaeda terrorist Zacarias Moussaoui resumed Friday after being delayed for a day when a juror called in sick.
Prosecutors asked a judge to rethink granting 9/11 families suing airlines access to evidence gathered for the criminal case against al Qaeda terrorist Zacarias Moussaoui.
Jurors must answer dozens of preliminary questions before they resolve the final one: Should al Qaeda conspirator Zacarias Moussaoui live or die?
Zacarias Moussaoui personifies "unforgivable evil" and should be put to death, federal prosecutors told jurors Monday at the al Qaeda conspirator's sentencing trial.
Would-be shoe bomber Richard Reid denies a central part of al Qaeda terrorist Zacarias Moussaoui's testimony -- that the pair were to hijack a passenger jet together and fly it into the White House.
Seven more relatives of people killed in the attacks testified Thursday as defense attorneys for al Qaeda terrorist Zacarias Moussaoui rested their case.
"Compare and contrast," read the directions for essay exams in the old college blue books. Compare and contrast the trials of Zacarias Moussaoui and Jeffrey Skilling.
Relatives of people killed at the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001, told jurors deciding the fate of al Qaeda terrorist Zacarias Moussaoui how they have overcome rage and fear with hope.
The expert who literally helped write the book on diagnosing mental illness testified Wednesday that 9/11 conspirator Zacarias Moussaoui is schizophrenic.
Confessed Al Qaeda terrorist Zacarias Moussaoui sits alone at his own table in the courtroom, convinced that his lawyers are trying to trick federal marshals into killing him.
A clinical psychologist who has studied Zacarias Moussaoui for the past four years told jurors at his sentencing trial Monday that the al Qaeda plotter is mentally ill.
Richard Reid, the man who tried to bring down a commercial airliner in 2001 with a bomb concealed in his shoe, will not testify at the death penalty trial of Zacarias Moussaoui, the judge in the case decided on Friday.
Al Qaeda terrorist Zacarias Moussaoui told a jury deciding whether he should live or die that he is willing to kill Americans "any time, anywhere."
Attorneys for families suing airlines for negligence and wrongful death related to the 9/11 hijackings have sued the Transportation Security Administration lawyer who temporarily derailed the trial of Zacarias Moussaoui.
Sounds of a 9/11 hijacking and a heroic struggle to retake the jetliner filled a courtroom Wednesday as jurors relived the final minutes of United Airlines Flight 93 through its cockpit voice recorder.
Jurors saw more disturbing evidence of the effects of the September 11, 2001, terror attacks as the focus of an al Qaeda plotter's sentencing trial shifted Tuesday from the World Trade Center to the Pentagon.
The judge in the Zacarias Moussaoui trial ruled Friday that families of September 11 attack victims are entitled to the same unclassified aviation security documents the government turned over to the al Qaeda conspirator's defense team.
Jurors saw gripping videotape of jetliners crashing into the World Trade Center and people jumping to their deaths as the nation's first trial about the September 11, 2001, attacks resumed Thursday.
Rudy Giuliani, who led New York through the dark days after the September 11 terrorist attacks, will be among the first witnesses when the death penalty trial of Zacarias Moussaoui resumes on Thursday, CNN has learned.
A federal jury decided on Monday that admitted al Qaeda terrorist Zacarias Moussaoui is eligible for the death penalty, tying him directly to the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.
Family members of people who died in the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks offered differing opinions Monday after a federal jury decided that Zacarias Moussaoui is eligible for the death penalty.
Al Qaeda conspirator Zacarias Moussaoui is eligible for the death penalty, a federal jury decided Monday in the first U.S. trial about the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.
The jury in the Zacarias Moussaoui case has reached a verdict on the question of whether the al Qaeda operative should be eligible for the death penalty, court officials said Monday.
Jurors ended a second full day of deliberations Friday without deciding whether al Qaeda conspirator Zacarias Moussaoui is eligible for the death penalty.
The nine men and three women deciding the fate of Zacarias Moussaoui began their third day of deliberations Friday morning.
Jurors began deliberations Wednesday to determine whether al Qaeda operative Zacarias Moussaoui should face the death penalty for lying to federal agents before the September 11, 2001, attacks.
Zacarias Moussaoui put himself in the middle of the September 11, 2001, plot on Monday, claiming that he planned to hijack a plane and fly it into the White House and that shoe bomber Richard Reid would have been his accomplice.
Al Qaeda witnesses portrayed Zacarias Moussaoui as a liar and a bumbler Tuesday, as his defense team tried to refute Moussaoui's own damaging testimony.
Al Qaeda conspirator Zacarias Moussaoui told a stunned courtroom Monday that he and would-be shoe bomber Richard Reid were supposed to hijack a fifth plane on September 11, 2001, and crash it into the White House.
Whether Zacarias Moussaoui lives or dies boils down to one question: "What if?"
Federal prosecutors rested their case Thursday in the sentencing phase of the trial of Zacarias Moussaoui.
Steps could have been taken to stop suicide hijackers if Zacarias Moussaoui had leveled with investigators about his al Qaeda ties, a government witness told jurors Wednesday in the penalty phase of Moussaoui's trial.
Al Qaeda conspirator Zacarias Moussaoui told a roommate in Oklahoma that fighting a holy war was the only way to get to paradise, according to testimony at his sentencing trial Tuesday.
The roots of the bungle seem to come down to this: Carla Martin, a government lawyer with a small role in the sentencing trial of confessed 9/11 conspirator Zacarias Moussaoui, thought the chief of the prosecution team was overplaying his hand. In his opening statement, Assistant U.S. Attorney Robert Spencer argued that if Moussaoui had told the FBI what he knew about the 9/11 plot in advance, authorities "would have prevented" the hijackings and thousands of lives could have been saved. Martin, 51, a veteran in the aviation field, thought defense attorneys could "drive a truck" through that assertion, as she later e-mailed a scheduled witness in the case. Thus she took it upon herself to coach that witness and six other current or former government aviation experts scheduled to testify in ways to fend off the opposing lawyers.
Justice Department prosecutors are exploring possible criminal charges against a government lawyer whose actions nearly derailed the sentencing trial of an al Qaeda conspirator, federal law enforcement sources said Monday.
The FBI agent who arrested and interrogated al Qaeda conspirator Zacarias Moussaoui a month before the September 11, 2001, attacks testified Monday that he believed at the time that Moussaoui was a terrorist intent on hijacking an airplane.
A federal judge partially retreated Friday from her ruling barring all aviation security witnesses from the sentencing trial of al Qaeda conspirator Zacarias Moussaoui.
The government lawyer blamed for damaging prosecutors' case against Zacarias Moussaoui might be a factor in another September 11 case, attorneys for victims' families say.
The Transportation Security Administration lawyer who improperly contacted witnesses in the Zacarias Moussaoui trial has been placed on paid administrative leave, Department of Homeland Security officials said.
Federal prosecutors Wednesday asked a judge to reconsider what they called a "terribly excessive" ruling in an effort to salvage their crippled death-penalty case against al Qaeda conspirator Zacarias Moussaoui.
A federal judge decided Tuesday to let the government continue to pursue the death penalty against al Qaeda conspirator Zacarias Moussaoui, though she gutted about half of the prosecutors' case by barring six witnesses.
A federal judge threatened to throw out the death penalty at the sentencing trial of al Qaeda conspirator Zacarias Moussaoui after prosecutors disclosed Monday that a government lawyer tried to coach seven witnesses.
After his arrest in August 2001, Zacarias Moussaoui concealed his membership in al Qaeda, the terrorist group on the verge of hijacking jetliners and crashing them into the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, an FBI agent testified.
Zacarias Moussaoui couldn't keep a plane level, make turns or keep it on course up to FAA standards, his instructor at an Oklahoma flight school testified Thursday.
A man accused of plotting suicide attacks on American targets in Singapore and the Philippines testified Wednesday that Zacarias Moussaoui dreamed about flying a plane into the White House.
At Zacarias Moussaoui's sentencing trial, an FBI agent testified Tuesday about al Qaeda's training manual, what the FBI knew prior to 9/11 about al Qaeda operatives' lessons at U.S. flight schools, and missed opportunities to learn more.
Had Zacarias Moussaoui only told the truth after his arrest a month before the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, the lives of Americans could have been saved, a prosecutor told jurors as the penalty phase of Moussaoui's trial got under way Monday.
A jury was seated Monday to hear the sentencing phase of the trial of Zacarias Moussaoui, the only person charged in the United States with crimes related to the 9/11 terrorist attacks.
He spoke fluent Arabic but rusty English. He had plenty of cash, but didn't seem like the playboy type. He said he wanted to learn to fly a jumbo jet simply to impress his pals.
Eighty-six people qualified Friday as potential jury members who will determine whether September 11 conspirator Zacarias Moussaoui will be executed or spend the rest of his life in prison.
Confessed al Qaeda conspirator Zacarias Moussaoui was unexpectedly allowed to re-enter the federal courtroom Wednesday for the selection of a jury to decide whether he is executed or imprisoned for life.
After berating the judge and his attorneys in another courtroom outburst, al Qaeda conspirator Zacarias Moussaoui was barred from court while lawyers pick the jury that will decide whether he lives or dies.
Unlike their East Coast counterparts, relatives of 9/11 victims who live in California won't be able to watch the trial of Zacarias Moussaoui.
Proclaiming "I am al Qaeda," Zacarias Moussaoui was removed four times from a federal courtroom as jury selection began Monday at a trial to determine whether he should be executed for terror conspiracy.
Even though admitted al Qaeda terrorist Zacarias Moussaoui was behind bars on September 11, 2001, the U.S. government blames him for the 2,973 lives lost in the attacks.
Attorneys for al Qaeda conspirator Zacarias Moussaoui have subpoenaed Pennsylvania Congressman Curt Weldon to testify at a trial that will determine whether Moussaoui should be executed.
Defense attorneys said Tuesday they are prepared to present witnesses who will say Zacarias Moussaoui, the only person in the U.S. convicted in connection with the September 11, 2001, terror attacks, may be schizophrenic.
Prosecutors in the trial of Zacarias Moussaoui want to tell jurors 45 personal stories from the victims of the 9/11 attacks, the government disclosed Tuesday.
Attorneys representing admitted al Qaeda conspirator Zacarias Moussaoui want potential jurors to answer more than 300 questions when they are screened to sit on the panel that decides whether Moussaoui should be sentenced to death.
Prosecutors want to ask jurors who will decide the punishment for a convicted al Qaeda terrorist about their views of capital punishment and whether they know anyone who died in the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001.
Four years after Zacarias Moussaoui was arraigned in a Virginia court on terrorism conspiracy charges stemming from the attacks of September 11, 2001, a jury will be impaneled to weigh his punishment -- either life in prison without the possibility of parole or death by lethal injection.
Defendants facing the possibility of the death penalty frequently plead guilty in exchange for a promise from the government not to seek execution. The practice is unsettling, as the threat of death may induce an innocent person to plead guilty simply to save his skin.
Zacarias Moussaoui, the first person convicted in the United States for the conspiracy behind the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, told the judge presiding over his case that he wants to be buried outside the United States if he is executed.
Osama bin Laden handpicked Zacarias Moussaoui to go to the United States to take part in an operation to fly planes into buildings and personally approved of Moussaoui's plan to target the White House, according to a "statement of facts" submitted in court Friday.
Guilty pleas related to the conspiracy behind September 11, 2001, closed a three-and-a-half-year prosecution Friday for the only person publicly charged in the United States in connection with the attacks.
Trying to distance himself from the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, and a potential death sentence, Zacarias Moussaoui described in a Virginia courtroom Friday how he sought to crash a jetliner into the White House.
The federal judge presiding over the Zacarias Moussaoui trial has scheduled a Friday hearing to accept a guilty plea in the only U.S. prosecution connected to the September 11, 2001, attacks, court officials said.
Federal prosecutors have asked the judge presiding over the Zacarias Moussaoui case to start the long-delayed trial in October.
The Supreme Court Monday rejected the appeal of Zacarias Moussaoui, the only person publicly charged in the United States in connection with the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.
Federal prosecutors are asking the judge in the long-delayed case against admitted al Qaeda member Zacarias Moussaoui to begin the trial in six months.
A federal appeals court Monday removed one of the remaining procedural obstacles to a trial for Zacarias Moussaoui, the only person charged in the United States in connection to the September 11, 2001, attacks.
Family members of the 256 victims onboard the four planes hijacked September 11, 2001, have been invited to hear recordings of the final telephone calls of the passengers and crew.
An appeals court panel is asking prosecutors in the case of Zacarias Moussaoui whether government officials had broader access to top al Qaeda detainees in U.S. custody than previously understood.
When Nicholas Berg took an Oklahoma bus to a remote college campus a few years ago, the American recently beheaded by terrorists allowed a man with terrorist connections to use his laptop computer, according to his father.
Zacarias Moussaoui's attorneys are asking a federal appeals court to reconsider whether the government can pursue the death penalty and present evidence of the 9/11 attacks in the terrorism conspiracy case against him.
Those who like word-guessing games might enjoy the opinion that the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 4th Circuit handed down last week in the Moussaoui case. Its text is interrupted in several dozen places with sets of asterisks -- **** -- that substitute for classified information that has been excised.
A federal appeals court ruling Thursday may put the trial back on track for Zacarias Moussaoui, the only person charged in the United States in connection with the September 11, 2001, terror attacks.
The performance of U.S. law enforcement and the intelligence community will come under scrutiny next week when the 9/11 commission holds another public hearing as part of its review of the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001.
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