Worse Than Death

[Dr. Shane]

'You'll die with whimper,' Moussaoui told

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However, Moussaoui's mother, Aicha El Wafi, told reporters in Paris yesterday the decision meant her son would be buried alive. She has asked the French authorities to ask for his extradition to serve his sentence in his native France. But she was the only one to show any sympathy for Moussaoui yesterday.

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"When this proceeding is over, everyone else in this room will leave to see the sun ... hear the birds ... and they can associate with whoever they want. You will spend the rest of your life in a SuperMax prison. It's absolutely clear who won"

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I am not really against the death penalty but from what I understand this guy is going to be in solatary in a 5'x7' cell for 23 hours a day. He will have a small black & white TV with religious and educational programs and be able to leave 1 hour a day for excersize.

If this was for three or five years as a punishment I might be ok with it but for life? 30 - 40 years? If that isn't cruel and unusual punishment I don't know what is. It seems like a form of long, drawn-out torture.

[Neil D]

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Explainer: jury statement

Why they opted for life

The breakdown of the vote of jurors in the Zacarias Moussaoui trial remains secret. But a 42-page statement by the jury offers surprising insights into the deliberations that led them to opt for life in prison rather than the death sentence.

The statement reveals that members of the jury rejected the US prosecution case that Moussaoui played a central role in the September 11 al-Qaida plot. They accepted a list of mitigating factors put forward by the defence, mainly that he had suffered from an abusive background as a child in France.

But three of the 12 jurors then went out of their way to add a mitigating factor of their own. A note in scratchy handwriting, presumably by the jury foreman, recorded that the three believed "that Zacarius [sic] Moussaoui had limited knowledge of the 9/11 attack plans".

Nine accepted the defence's case that "Moussaoui's unstable early childhood and dysfunctional family resulted in his being placed in orphanages and having a home life without structure and emotional and financial support ... resulting in his leaving home due to his hostile relationship with his mother."

The same number also accepted his father had been abusive, and three agreed he was subjected to racism in France. But none accepted that he had endured hardship after moving to England, where he lived in a homeless shelter.

None of the jurors accepted two key arguments, that Moussaoui had a mental illness and that executing him would make him a martyr.

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Hmmmmmmm.....For the jury to accept that he is dysfunctional and a danger to society should merit him the death penalty...But for rejecting that for life imprisonment should be because they denied him is martyrdom, me thinks...

Oh well...they did thier duty and America won....this small round...

Now, if we can only get Osama Bin Lauden.....