Actual Recording Will Be Kept Private Per Judge's Ruling

"Please, please, please don't hurt me. I don't want to die." This plea -- from an unidentified crewmember aboard United Airlines Flight 93 -- was heard Wednesday afternoon in the court room where the only man ever sentenced in connection with the September 11 terrorist attacks now awaits word on if he will die of natural causes in a jail cell for his crime... or sooner, at the hands of the state.

Media reports indicate confessed al-Qaeda conspirator Zacarias Moussaoui sat quietly, showing little emotion, as jurors heard the chaotic final 30 minutes in the cockpit of the hijacked airliner, which later crashed near Shanksville, PA -- short of what authorities believe was the hijackers' target, either the White House or the Capitol Building in Washington, DC.

The transcript of the cockpit voice recorder -- which was authorized for release by Judge Leonie Brinkema earlier this week, although the actual recording is to be kept private out of respect for the families of the victims -- describes moments of struggle and terror between passengers and the hijackers, as well as the voices of the hijackers repeatedly praising Allah as the plane was put into a dive, when it became clear passengers weren't going to go down without a fight.

One passenger is heard on the tape urging others to help storm the cockpit in an attempt to take back control of the airliner -- "In the cockpit!" -- because "if we don't we die."

After the tape was heard Wednesday, government prosecutors rested their case.

Moussaoui's defense will begin its arguments Thursday, at which time they are expected to present evidence of Moussaoui's altered mental state and contorted view of the world -- brought about, the defense is expected to argue -- by discrimination Moussaoui encountered as a child in France and England.

After the defense rests, the jury will decide if enough evidence is present to link Moussaoui directly to the events of 9/11 -- which he has admitted he was to participate in, before his August 2001 capture -- and, thus, should be sentenced to die for his crimes.

If jurors decide that not enough evidence is present to make that case, Moussaoui will face life in prison for his confessed role in al-Qaeda.

FMI: www.usdoj.gov