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Date Posted: 14:40:53 01/02/02 Wed
Author: Washington Post
Subject: Not Guilty Plea Given in Moussaoui Case; Trial Set

Not Guilty Plea Given in Moussaoui Case; Trial Set

By Brooke A. Masters
Washington Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, January 2, 2002; 2:30 PM


Zacarias Moussaoui, the only person so far to face charges in the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, invoked Allah and told an Alexandria courtroom this morning that he didn’t have anything to plead. A federal judge then accepted a not guilty plea on his behalf.

The judge set a schedule that could put him on trial for his life in October.

Wearing a green jail jumpsuit, Moussaoui, 33, a French national of Moroccan descent, asked permission to address the court directly when the time came to enter his plea. "In the name of Allah, I do not have anything to plead and I enter no plea," he said politely before ending his statement by telling the judge "thank you very much."

U.S. District Judge Leonie M. Brinkema replied, "I will take that as a plea of not guilty," and Moussaoui's lawyer Frank Dunham replied, "That is correct."

Prosecutors have until March 29 to announce whether they will seek the death penalty for Moussaoui, who is charged with six counts, ranging from conspiracy to commit international terrorism to conspiracy to murder federal employees. U.S. authorities believe that Moussaoui was training to be the 20th conspirator aboard the four jets that were hijacked and crashed into the Pentagon, World Trade Center and a Pennsylvania field, killing more than 3,100 people. But he never got on board a plane because he was arrested in August after employees of a Minnesota flight school alerted the FBI to behavior they found suspicious.

Today's half-hour hearing brought unusually tight security and a previously unheard of massive international media presence to the federal courthouse in Alexandria. More than 15 television satellite trucks ringed the square outside the courthouse, and journalists began lining up before 6:30 a.m. Camera-carrying technicians mobbed participants as they came and entered the front door – at one point, a lawyer for Moussaoui's mother was so surroundeded that he could barely get into his car.

At the government's request, Brinkema set an ambitious schedule for motions, which, if followed, would start jury selection Sept. 30 and set opening statements for Oct. 14.

Defense lawyer Gerald Zerkin had requested a delay until February 2003 to give the defense more time to translate foreign language documents and interview witnesses overseas.

"The defense feels it simply cannot prepare its case in the time suggested. . . . The government has already had three months," Zerkin said. Plus, he added, the prosecution's schedule could make it difficult for his client to get a fair trial because potential jurors would begin filling out questionnaires shortly after the first anniversary of the attacks. "The vast amount of publicity will not be purged by Sept. 30," he said.

But Assistant U.S. Attorney Robert A. Spencer argued that "the publicity issue is going to have to be dealt with by the court no matter when we do it."

Brinkema agreed. "I am also concerned about the need to balance the defense's need to prepare for the trial and the public's need to get this [case] over with," she said. "If the defense needs additional resources including additional counsel, that's something this court can deal with."

Brinkema said she did not anticipate major problems with finding an impartial jury in Northern Virginia next fall. Noting that when the attacks occurred, she was in the middle of choosing a death penalty jury on another case, the judge said she was surprised then to find that the hijackings had not had a personal impact on much of the Northern Virginia jury pool.

"It was surprising to hear how few had friends or relatives who were hurt at the Pentagon," she said. "I am satisfied that the Northern Virginia population will be an excellent jury pool and we'll have no problem."

Her comments spell trouble for the defense, should they decide to request a change of venue to another part of the state or the country. That kind of motion will be heard at an April 4 hearing that has been scheduled for routine criminal motions. Brinkema has also set a hearing for Jan. 9 to consider a request by the cable network Court TV to televise the trial.

Moussaoui's mother, Aicha el-Wafi, did not attend the proceedings. She had declined to visit with her son in the Alexandria jail because government officials said the FBI must be present during such a meeting.

Her attorney, Francois Roux, who attended today's hearing, said today that el-Wafi decided "it would be too difficult for her to see her son for the first time at the hearing. His mother is very upset. If she came this morning, she would disturb her son at this very important judicial moment."

Roux said el-Wafi is returning to France this afternoon. He said he found Moussaoui's court-appointed lawyers "very purposeful" but said he was surprised to see the defendant wearing prison clothing in the courtroom. In the United States, prisoners usually are given civilian clothing only for hearings where a jury will be present.

© 2002 The Washington Post Company

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