Prosecutor: Moussaoui's lies led to 9/11
(AP)
Updated: 2006-03-07 07:25

Members of the jury pool generally kept their eyes away from Moussaoui and those who did not make the final cut appeared relieved. "I'm so happy," one woman said as she walked out.

Those selected will not know who is a juror and who is an alternate until late in the trial.

The jury pool already had been qualified to serve during a two-week process in which prospects were quizzed individually by Brinkema and filled out 50-page questionnaires asking their views about the death penalty, al-Qaida, the FBI and their reactions to the Sept. 11 attacks.

Arrangements for the trial have been years in the making. Victims of the terrorist attacks and their families could watch the trial on closed-circuit TV at federal courthouses in lower Manhattan and Central Islip in New York, Boston, Newark, N.J., Philadelphia and in Alexandria, thanks to legislation passed in Congress.

To obtain the death penalty, prosecutors must first prove a direct link between Moussaoui and the Sept. 11 attacks. Moussaoui denies any connection to 9/11, but says he was training for a possible future attack.

Prosecutors will try to link Moussaoui to 9/11 by arguing that the FBI would have prevented the attacks if only Moussaoui had told the truth to the FBI about his terrorist links when he was arrested in August 2001.

The defense argues that the FBI and other agencies knew more about the hijackers' plans before 9/11 than Moussaoui and still failed to stop the attacks.