Moussaoui Jury Enters Day 7

The Zacarias Moussaoui sentencing jury was to begin its seventh day of deliberations this morning, and its prolonged discussions have increased speculation that the Al Qaeda terrorist may escape the death penalty for his role as a self-avowed Sept. 11 conspirator.

The nine men and three women have spent about 35 hours hashing out their feelings about Moussaoui, but by Tuesday evening more had been learned about their personal business than how they’re leaning on the life-or-death question they face in the jury room.

One juror fell ill last week, and that cost a day of deliberations. Another was admonished for doing research at home.

On Thursday, the jury is to meet only until 1:15 p.m. because a panel member wants to attend a National Junior Honor Society ceremony honoring his daughter. And they are not scheduled to meet on Friday because another juror wants to leave town to attend his parents’ 50th wedding anniversary.

The fact that they were contemplating a three-day weekend appeared to suggest they didn’t expect to reach a verdict before then.

But the longer it takes, some observers said, the more it appears that the jury is unable to reach the unanimous agreement needed to send Moussaoui to the death chamber.

Moussaoui pleaded guilty in April 2005. Jurors are deciding whether he is to be executed by lethal injection or spend the rest of his life in prison without a chance of parole.

The sentencing trial began March 6. Much of the government evidence has shown that Moussaoui was an Al Qaeda recruit sent here to learn to fly. He twice testified about his hatred for this country, and the jury already has determined that he is eligible for the death penalty.

But the case presented by the government was not clear-cut, especially since Moussaoui was in a Minnesota jail when the hijacked planes struck the World Trade Center and the Pentagon on Sept. 11, 2001. There also was a significant amount of defense expert testimony that Moussaoui suffered from paranoid schizophrenia.

In addition, the jury was given a 42-page verdict form to plod through before deciding his fate.

Before the trial, Judge Leonie M. Brinkema voiced the view that this was not a death penalty case. But a transcript of a closed hearing during the trial, released Tuesday, made clear that she thought it was crucial that the jury reach a decision in the only Sept. 11-related case that has been prosecuted in the U.S.

“We need to get this issue tried once and for all,” Brinkema said March 23 in rejecting a defense motion to halt the proceedings. “Everybody -- the government, the defense, the defendant, the system -- needs to have this case tried ... so the jury can speak.”

But just how difficult it can be for jurors can be seen in the transcript of another closed hearing that the judge and lawyers held April 17 with one of the jurors.

The juror told them that when she was back at work on a day when the trial was not in session, a co-worker “just basically marched into my office” and told her she knew she was one of the Moussaoui jurors from what she had read on the Internet.

During jury selection, the juror had told the court that “Al Qaeda is evil.” Her statement was picked up by the press, and even though the names of all the jurors are kept secret, her co-worker guessed correctly that she was on the panel.

The juror has since become gravely concerned about her safety and the well-being of her family, especially if reporters learn her name and approach her after a verdict is reached.

“I don’t know how these things go,” the juror said. “But I just don’t want to be followed. I don’t want to be bothered. You know, I want my privacy after the trial is over.”