Government seeks fall trial for Moussaoui
By Phil Hirschkorn
CNN
(CNN) -- Federal prosecutors have asked the judge presiding over the Zacarias Moussaoui case to start the long-delayed trial in October.
The government filed its motion with the U.S. District Court in Alexandria, Virginia, on Tuesday, the day after the Supreme Court rejected a Moussaoui appeal.
Prosecutors asked Judge Leonie Brinkema to start jury selection October 3 and schedule opening statements October 31.
In her previous rulings, Brinkema indicated if higher courts approved the government's pursuit of the death penalty -- and they have -- she would set a trial as soon as six months after those rulings.
The motion comes the day after the high court, without stating its reasons, rejected the an appeal from Moussaoui, the only person publicly charged in the United States in connection with the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. (Full story)
The legal logjam stemmed from Moussaoui's desire to question key al Qaeda detainees who, he believes, would exonerate him of the most serious charges.
Moussaoui is facing the death penalty in a six-count federal indictment obtained three months after 19 hijackers commandeered four jetliners and crashed them into the twin towers of the World Trade Center, the Pentagon, and a field near Shanksville, Pennsylvania, killing 2,973 people, not counting themselves.
Moussaoui, 36, a French citizen of Moroccan heritage, was arrested a month before those attacks after arousing suspicion at a Minnesota flight school.
He maintains that he had no involvement or advance knowledge of the terrorist plot but has admitted in open court hearings to belonging to al Qaeda and swearing allegiance to its leader, Saudi exile Osama bin Laden.
The government contends that Moussaoui's actions -- from attending an al Qaeda paramilitary camp in Afghanistan to flight schools in the United States -- mimicked the hijackers and that he received money from the same operatives, Ramzi Binalshibh, a coordinator of the plot, and Mustafa al-Hawsawi, a financier of the hijackers.
The government considers the potential witnesses -- Binalshibh, al-Hawsawi, and Khalid Shaikh Mohammed, the architect of the attacks -- "enemy combatants" out of reach of the U.S. courts. They are in custody in undisclosed locations in other countries
Moussaoui's attorneys wanted to directly question the men, if not in front of a jury, then at least on camera via a secure satellite hookup.
They contended that such access was guaranteed by a defendant's constitutional right to call available exculpatory witnesses.
But in its successful appeals, the government said Brinkema's orders to videotape depositions of the detainees would interfere with ongoing interrogations and "cause irreparable harm in the war on al Qaeda."
As a substitute for live testimony, a federal appeals court in Richmond ordered Brinkema to supervise the creation of new summaries of the detainees' testimony, co-written by defense counsel, who will for the first time be offered a chance to submit their own questions to interrogators.
Brinkema had deemed the original summaries inadequate. Both she and the appeals court found the detainees could offer information helpful to Moussaoui.
The legal standoff has sidetracked the trial for two years. An October trial date would be more than three years after the original date set by Brinkema when the case was transferred to her jurisdiction in 2002.
Prosecutors indicated in their motion that the main portion of the trial would last less than two months. "Based on this schedule, the government estimates that the guilt phase will conclude shortly before the holidays," they said.
If Moussaoui were to be convicted of any of the four alleged conspiracies that carry the death penalty, prosecutors requested that Brinkema plan the death penalty phase of the trial for January 2006.
Moussaoui's attorneys declined to comment on the proposal.
Justice Department spokesman Bryan Sierra said the Supreme Court's decision ending the standoff "affirms our belief the government can provide Zacarias Moussaoui with a fair trial, while still protecting national security interests."
