Moussaoui Barred From Rest of Jury Phase After Outburst

A federal judge on Tuesday permanently banned Zacarias Moussaoui from the remainder of the jury selection proceedings in his penalty trial after the self-admitted Sept. 11 conspirator once again lashed out at his defense lawyers and the judge and angrily declared: “God curse you and America!”

U.S. District Judge Leonie M. Brinkema ordered Moussaoui removed from her courtroom to his holding cell in the federal courthouse here. There he will be allowed to monitor the next three weeks of individual jury selection via a television hookup.

In April, Moussaoui pleaded guilty to capital murder for participating in the Sept. 11 terrorist plot. He also claimed that he was being recruited to fly an airplane into the White House at a later date. The question for jurors is whether he should be sentenced to death or to life in prison with no parole.

The 37-year-old Moussaoui started the proceedings Tuesday much as he did Feb. 6, when about 500 potential jurors were brought into court in groups to begin filling out questionnaires in the trial. Each time, he disrupted the process, swore allegiance to Al Qaeda and was removed from the court.

The judge said the main reason for Tuesday’s hearing was to “determine how Mr. Moussaoui plans to behave.” He wasted no time showing her.

Speaking alternately in Arabic and English, Moussaoui stood and called the proceedings his “organized death.” A French citizen of Moroccan descent, he disavowed any allegiance to France, calling it a “nation of homosexual crusaders.” He said, “I tell you I am a Muslim

“Today is my death; today is my death,” he repeated, angry that the judge had refused to excuse his lawyers and let him represent himself. “If I don’t make sure that these people are not going to represent me, I know that I am dead, OK?”

But even then, he said, he did not expect justice. “You own everything,” he told the judge and the lawyers seated around him. “You are America: the defense, the judge, the attackers. These people are American. I’m Al Qaeda. I’m a sworn enemy of you....Your own commander in chief says he wants to launch a revenge against terrorists.”

The judge warned him that such outbursts were inappropriate. “Mr. Moussaoui,” she said, “you are the biggest enemy of yourself.”

Moussaoui’s lawyers are expected to call witnesses who will testify that he is schizophrenic. But the judge already has ruled that Moussaoui comprehends the gravity of his situation.

Legal observers say his outbursts could convince the jury that he is mentally ill and should be spared execution. But his repeated claims of loyalty to Al Qaeda and hatred for America could also help the government as it seeks the death penalty.

“It could cut either way,” said Carl Tobias, a professor at the University of Richmond School of Law in Virginia.

Brinkema could bar him from the trial, something that has been done in other high-profile cases.

Charles Manson and three female devotees were removed at times from their trial in Los Angeles 35 years ago in the TateLaBianca murder case, when they began singing, chanting and disparaging the judge. All four were convicted.