Cockpit Tape Horror At Moussaoui Trial
Federal prosecutors seeking the execution of Zacarias Moussaoui figuratively placed the jury aboard doomed Flight 93 for its last searing moments, playing a recording in which a passenger begs the Sept. 11, 2001, hijackers, "Please, don't hurt me" and another cries "I don't want to die." A hijacker is also heard asking, "Shall we finish it off?"
The United Air Lines flight crashed in a Pennsylvania field as passengers tried to retake the plane — according to a cockpit voice recording played publicly Wednesday for the first time — as the jury weighed whether to recommend the death sentence for Moussaoui, an admitted terrorist conspirator.
The judge released a transcript instead of the tapes Wednesday, because some families objected to the tapes being played publicly.
The recording begin with the hijackers' voice clearly stating "ladies and gentlemen, this is the captain ... we have a bomb on board, so sit." For the next few minutes, passengers are repeatedly told, 'Don't move," "Shut up" "Sit," and "down down down."
An air traffic voice says, "Is that United 93 calling?"
CBS News correspondent Jim Stewart reports for The Early Show that the government says cockpit voice recorder, which it suggests that passengers were on the verge of taking the plane back when it turned belly up and dove into a Pennsylvania farm field.
A translation of the hijackers' Arabic words was provided to the jury. At one point a hijacker is heard to say "In the name of Allah, most merciful, most compassionate."
Read the cockpit flight record, as heard in court.
Watch Stewart's latest report on the trial.
The government rested its case before noon after the judge rejected prosecutors' request to display a running presentation of the names and photos of all of the nearly 3,000 victims of Sept. 11. Prosecutors were instead allowed to show one large poster with the pictures of all but 92 of the victims.
There were three victim-impact witnesses who gave testimony following the broadcast of the Flight 93 tape in the courtroom.
The judge sent the jury home for the day and the defense will begin its case on Thursday. Just after that, Moussaoui shouted, "God curse you all!"
During the government's playing of the recording, a voice is heard from the cockpit, possibly that of a flight crew member, saying, "Please don't hurt me. Oh God!" A few seconds later, somebody says, three times, "I don't want to die."
Then there are what sound like groans in the cockpit. Then in Arabic a couple of minutes later, a voice of a hijacker says "Everything is fine. I finished." He said that around the time that the plane is turning back toward Washington.
As the jury heard the recording, prosecutors played a video presentation that simultaneously showed the flight path, speed and heading in a mockup similar to a flight simulator.
Other members of the public won't hear the recordings; because some families have objected to their release, CBS News' Aleen Sirgany reports.
Family members and occasionally some jurors wept quietly as witness after witness testified to their loss. Moussaoui appeared almost entertained by the procession, listening intently to detailed explanations of the attacks on the Pentagon and Flight 93, Stewart reports.
In the final minutes of Flight 93, passengers attempted to retake the plane at which point the hijackers crashed it into the western Pennsylvania field. The plane had been headed for the U.S. Capitol, according to Sept. 11 mastermind Khalid Shaikh Mohammed.
The recording began at 9:31 a.m. with the hijackers' voice clearly stating "ladies and gentlemen, this is the captain ... we have a bomb on board, so sit." The hijackers alternated between Arabic and English.
As the tape proceeded, it was clear that passengers were gaining the upper hand.
A voice of a hijacker, presumably inside the cockpit, says, "They want to get in." The voice continues, "Hold from within." At 10 a.m., there is a voice that says, "I am injured."
Sounds of a struggle can be heard. At that point, the plane appears to go out of control. There are sounds of the hijackers trying to shake off the passengers. The plane pitches back and forth.
As the jury heard the recording, prosecutors played a video presentation that simultaneously showed the flight path, speed and heading in a mockup similar to a flight simulator.
At 10:02 a.m., a hijacker says, "Give it to me. Give it to me." At 10:03 a.m. the plane dives amid crashing sounds and the tape stops.
Moussaoui is the only person charged in this country in connection with the Sept. 11 attacks. The jury deciding his fate has already declared him eligible for the death penalty by determining that his actions caused at least one death on 9/11.
Even though he was in jail in Minnesota at the time of the attacks, the jury ruled that lies told by Moussaoui to federal agents a month before the attacks kept them from identifying and stopping some of the hijackers.
Now they must decide whether Moussaoui deserves execution or life in prison.
Defense lawyers say the jury should spare Moussaoui's life because of his limited role in the attacks, evidence that he is mentally ill and because his execution would only play into his dream of martyrdom.
After several days of testimony related to the attacks on the World Trade Center in New York, the focus shifted Tuesday to the Pentagon, where the jury saw some of the most gruesome evidence in the trial.
Several photos showed badly burned bodies, facial features still discernible. Defense lawyers objected unsuccessfully to their display.
Lt. Col. John Thurman testified that when the Pentagon was hit, he thought a bomb had exploded, then later described a sensation similar to an earthquake as the plane moved under his second floor office.
Thurman crawled through the office, unable to lift his head above the carpet because the smoke was too intense. He said he felt an overwhelming need to take a nap and "that's when it hit me: I'm going to die. And I got very angry. Angry that terrorists would take my life on the same day my parents were getting their first grandchild" (from his sister).
"I realized I had to get out. I pushed file cabinets with all of my strength and found an opening," Thurman said.
CBS' Stephanie Lambidakis reports that Thurmond testified that he felt "guilt about living, about being a survivor, about getting a lucky break."
Thurman left the Pentagon coughing up black soot and was taken to a hospital. He fully recovered from his injuries after a weeklong hospital stay that included a medically induced coma.
Moussaoui testified previously that he and Reid were going to hijack a fifth plane on Sept. 11 and fly it into the White House. The defense lawyers, who have tried to discredit their client's credibility, have said Moussaoui is exaggerating his role in Sept. 11 to inflate his role in history.