Lawyer Says Death Out for Moussaoui

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By Associated Press

Published: 07/17/2002

The court-appointed lawyer for Zacarias Moussaoui, the accused Sept. 11 conspirator, said recently a recent Supreme Court ruling should bar the government from seeking the death penalty in the case.
Frank Dunham Jr., who remains in the case despite Moussaoui's attempts to have him dismissed, contended in a motion that a grand jury must specifically consider the death penalty issue. That was not done in Moussaoui's case.
However, Dunham said even a revised indictment dealing with the death penalty should not allow the government to seek Moussaoui's execution. He said only Congress could fix the federal death penalty law's constitutional problems in light of the Supreme Court ruling.
The high court ruled on June 24 that juries have to make the crucial decisions about life and death.
Ironically, Moussaoui has accused Dunham of participating in a plot - along with the judge and prosecutors - to have him executed. Nonetheless, Dunham continues a months-long effort to bar the government from seeking Moussaoui's execution.
The government has said it would seek the death penalty if Moussaoui is convicted of charges that he plotted with the 19 hijackers to commit terrorism on Sept. 11. Moussaoui is representing himself, but the judge has ordered Dunham, a federal public defender, to remain in the case.
The high court declared the sentencing laws of five states unconstitutional, but Dunham contended the ruling also would apply to the federal law. The ruling called into question whether 168 death row inmates in those states will be put to death, and it also could affect some inmates sentenced in four other states, lawyers said.
The 7-2 ruling affects systems in which judges have the final say after a jury convicts someone of murder.

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