Judge Will Consult With Victims' Families On Public
Release
Jurors in the death
penalty case of Zacarias Moussaoui, already tasked with a perhaps
uneviable duty, may soon listen to what federal prosecutors say was
the end result of Moussaoui's failure to cooperate with federal
agents in August 2001: the cockpit tape that recorded the final
moments of United Airlines Flight 93 on 9/11.
US District Judge Leonie Brinkema ruled Wednesday that jurors
could listen to the tape -- which previously has been played only
privately for the families of victims onboard the doomed flight --
part of the prosecution's attempt to link Moussaoui directly to the
events of September 11.
Brinkema deferred ruling on the matter of the public release of
the transcript from the tape -- which, as part of testimony in the
Moussaoui trial, would be considered in the public domain per the
4th US Circuit Court of Appeals -- until the victim's families have
time to weigh in on the matter.
"The court is also mindful that family members of the flight
crew or passengers on Flight 93 may object to the voices of their
loved ones being publicly revealed in this manner," wrote Brinkema,
as reported by the Associated Press.
The families have until Tuesday to let their comments be heard.
If the families do not object, Brinkema said she will release the
material to the general public the day after it is submitted into
evidence.
As was reported by Aero-News,
jurors ruled earlier this week that Moussaoui is eligible for the
death penalty for his role in the 9/11 attacks -- which, until
Moussaoui himself admitted he was to have piloted a fifth airliner
into the White House that day, federal investigators had judged to
be a spotty connection at best.
Prosecutors are now focused on proving Moussaoui's failure to
disclose all he knew about the attacks, when agents arrested him in
August 2001, led to at least some of the 2,972 deaths that occurred
the next month.
The AP reports Moussaoui's defense team, in an attempt to stave
off the death penalty for life imprisonment instead, will
likely argue that 'mitigating factors'-- including
schizophrenia, and racism Moussaoui encountered as a Morrocan man
growing up in France and England, may have led to the
confessed al-Qaeda conspirator's actions.
The sentencing portion of the trial is set to resume Thursday
morning.