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No evidence of moussaoui reid hijack plot jury told Original Source Link: (May no longer be active)
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No Evidence of Moussaoui-Reid Hijack Plot, Jury Told (Update5)
April 20 (Bloomberg) -- Prosecutors in Zacarias Moussaoui's sentencing trial agreed there's no evidence to support his claim that would-be shoe bomber Richard Reid was to join him in a hijacking on Sept. 11, according to a statement read to the jury.
The defense rested after reading the statement, agreed to by both sides and later released by the court, to the jury in Alexandria, Virginia. Reid wasn't in the U.S. by July 2001 to prepare for the attacks, as were all 19 hijackers, according to the statement, which said it was based on reports from the Federal Bureau of Investigation.
``To date, there is no information available to indicate that Richard Reid had pre-knowledge of the 9/11 attacks or was instructed by al-Qaeda leadership to conduct an operation in coordination with Moussaoui,'' said the statement. It said Reid named Moussaoui as his beneficiary in his will, and that it was ``highly unlikely he would bequeath his belongings to Moussaoui'' if the two planned to die in the same attack.
The jury must decide whether Moussaoui, 37, is sentenced to death or life in prison. He pleaded guilty in April 2005 to conspiracy charges and is the only person charged in the U.S. in connection with the attacks. Moussaoui, testifying against his lawyers' advice, said Reid was to be a member of his crew on Sept. 11 to hijack a plane and crash it into the White House.
Closing Arguments
With testimony complete, U.S. District Judge Leonie Brinkema scheduled closing arguments for April 24. After instructions to jurors, they will begin deliberating, she said.
Moussaoui's defense lawyers are acting over his objections, and he denounced them from the witness stand last week. They earlier sought testimony by Reid and told the jury that Moussaoui's only participation in Sept. 11 plans was ``in his dreams.''
Reid is serving life in prison for trying to blow up a transatlantic flight in December 2001.
Defense lawyer Alan Yamamoto also read from an e-mail that he said Reid wrote shortly before his shoe-bomb attempt. In the e-mail, Reid said he dreamed of waiting for a ride, and a pickup truck came that was too full for him to get into, though he later was able to get in a smaller car that came by.
``I now believe that the pickup that came first was 9/11,'' an operation he was disappointed he had been unable to join, while the smaller car symbolized the attack he planned to carry out, Reid said in the e-mail, according to Yamamoto.
Victims' Relatives
The statement read to jurors said Reid was traveling in mid- 2001 in countries including Afghanistan, Israel, Turkey and Pakistan while the Sept. 11 hijackers had gathered in the U.S. to plan for the attacks.
Also today, relatives of Sept. 11 victims testified in Moussaoui's defense. Alice Hoagland, whose son Mark Bingham died on the flight that crashed in Pennsylvania after a struggle between passengers and hijackers, said her son ``embraced love and inclusiveness.''
Hoagland said she wants to work for ``the reconciliation of radical Islam with its more mainstream and peaceful brothers in Islam.'' Islam and Christianity have a lot in common, she said, adding, ``I would like to be able to be a voice for reconciliation in the world.''
In his testimony last week, Moussaoui said he had no regrets for people who gave often tearful testimony for the prosecution about relatives killed in the attacks. He said he found it ``disgusting'' that people showed their grief at his trial.
`Remember the Goodness'
The jury also heard from Jennifer Glick, sister of Jeremy Glick of New Jersey, who died on the flight that crashed in Pennsylvania. According to earlier testimony by a police officer, Glick called his wife and told her that passengers were planning to ``jump the hijackers'' and retake the plane.
``I would like to remember the goodness he showed we all have inside us,'' Glick's sister said.
Later, in presenting their rebuttal case, prosecutors sought to undercut the defense's argument that Moussaoui suffers from paranoid schizophrenia.
Psychiatrist Dr. Raymond Patterson said he and a prosecution psychologist found no evidence of mental illness aside from traces of personality disorder.
``My opinion is Mr. Moussaoui does not suffer from schizophrenia, that he has never suffered from schizophrenia,'' Patterson said. Bizarre court filings by Moussaoui, including one that said ``God curse the Queen,'' weren't evidence of schizophrenia, he said.
``Those pleadings, from my perspective, are a tool,'' Patterson said. ``Making his message known by pen and by word is part of his war.''
The fact that Moussaoui wasn't allowed to fly solo after 57 hours of instruction wasn't evidence of schizophrenia, nor was his spitting water on a defense psychologist who tried to interview him, Patterson said.
The case is U.S. vs. Moussaoui, 01cr455, U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia (Alexandria).
Last Updated: April 20, 2006 18:14 EDT
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