"Nine of the 12 jurors found that Moussaoui's dysfunctional childhood was a "mitigating factor" favoring a life sentence."

He's depraved on account of he's deprived. Fans of West Side Story saw this coming.

Come on now, it would be difficult for any of us to vote for the death penalty, given that the defendant was guilty only of conspiracy. He pulled no trigger, and his rants about flying and being the missing hijacker are just talk (otherwise, evidence would have been introduced to show direct connections with him to Atta). Had the FBI been able to properly search his computer and interrogate him in August 2001, it is unlikely that anything would have changed quickly enough to prevent 9/11, unless Moussaoui (or his computer) actually named names or flight numbers.

Look at it this way - have we have executed the blind Sheikh? After all, people died at the WTC in Feb. 1993. And he was the conduit.

Had Moussaoui gone before a military tribunal, things might have gone the other way. But life in prison denies him the joy or martyrdom. That seems fair to me.

ratbert: don't take this wrong, but speak for yourself. And, yes, I would have strung the blind sheikh up--by a pig-leather noose.

Death would have been fair.

Anyone want to take bets on how long before the first Americans are seized overseas by some terrorist group demanding Moussaoui's release?

Ratbert: Kill the blind guy too.

Hopefully some patriot will take care of Moussaoui in prison. Hopefully after making him his special friend.

Moussaoui has plenty of evil intent, but what has he actually done? You can be arrested for making terroristic threats, but that isn't a capital crime. Absent a direct connection to Atta (or Khalid Sheikh Mohammed), or the appropriate names and flight numbers on his computer, voting for the death penalty is just an ad hoc exercise, a chance to get closer to our baser passions (as Peggy Noonan wrote).

I'll pass on that.

Now the blind sheikh, I'd fry him. He was an active agent, recruiting and inspiring the nutjobs, and sheltering terrorists who came here. Plus, I imagine he had at least a green card. You could charge him with treason - Moussaoui was here on a visa - how can you charge him with treason?

I will say that if the jury was swayed by his 'troubled' upbringing, they copped out for the wrong reason.

Two words still give me hope that justice will be served: Jeffrey Dahmer.

Dahmer didn't get justice.

Ratbert: Moussaoui is a member of an evil organization which has killed and will try to kill plenty of Americans. Mere membership in such an organization is enough for me to kill him. If that is a "base passion", so be it.

If our justice system can't or won't punish criminals, so we are forced to hope that their fellow inmates do the dirty job for us, then we are the ones with the problem.

Let's forgo the trials, just dump everyone who's accused of anything all into a big box, and the ones that survive a few years, we'll let go because obviously they were not guilty, or at least not as bad as the ones who didn't make it out alive.

I missed the .pdf of his membership card in Al Qaeda being introduced as evidence. He knew Richard Reid (or who Reid was, at least), and he knew the imam from London (Hamza). The rest of the story is just blather, absent any evidence of a direct connection to AQ. I am not aware of all the details of the case - did Moussaoui ever go to Afghanistan? Did he ever meet bin Al-Shibh or Khalid Sheikh Mohammed? Did he ever claim to have met bin Laden? Or was he just a wannabe?

Sure, he's a complete bunghole. But that's not a crime. If his computer gave evidence that he knew the time and place of 9/11, then execute him. But I don't believe that was shown in court. As far as I can tell, Sami Al-Arian did more to further terrorist causes than Moussaoui did, and he got 5 years. The Marin County Taliban got 20 years, and he could be reasonably assumed to be a traitor (albeit a young and foolish one).

Now, I will be first in line to say that enemies like Moussaoui, non-citizens here to wage war on us, do not deserve constitutional rights. But once the trial started, that option was moot. He confessed and pled guilty to the charges. But sentencing him to death is a political statement, not a legal decision.