Illness Delays Moussaoui Deliberations
Zacarias Moussaoui's reaction to the news the jury had been sent home because of a sick juror was, "Moussaoui biological warfare."
The comment came as the al Qaeda conspirator was led out of the courtroom outside Washington today.
The judge scheduled deliberations to resume tomorrow, but she says the jury may not go back to work until Monday if the sick panelist doesn't recover quickly. CBS Radio News correspondent Barry Bagnato reports that the jury panel will not deliberate at all Thursday, because it can only meet as a complete group.
According to CBS News legal analyst Andrew Cohen, if the juror is seriously ill and cannot continue to deliberate at all, an alternate would be selected and deliberations — but not the whole trial — would have start again.
Today was to have been the fourth day of deliberation on whether Moussaoui should be executed or jailed for life for his role in 9/11.
The jury has deliberated for 16 hours this week.
At a short hearing with eleven jurors and the lawyers, U.S. District Judge Leonie Brinkema said when the juror called in sick, he suggested it's something the juror has had before and needs to get on medication.
She also expressed concern several times about the effect of medication on the juror, CBS' Stephanie Lambidakis reports.
"I want a juror to be 100 percent. I don't want a 90-percent juror ... this is a very stressful situation," Brinkema said.
Wednesday, the judge turned down a request from reporters from 14 news organizations to ask jurors to discuss their verdict once the trial ends.
"I do not believe it is appropriate for the court to serve as an intermediary between the media and the jurors," Brinkema said in a letter to the news organizations. "Accordingly, I will not communicate your request to the jurors."
After 6 1/4 hours of work on Wednesday, the nine men and three women had deliberated for 16 hours over three days. They were to return Thursday morning.
Jurors have asked only one question — a request on Tuesday for a dictionary. U.S. District Judge Leonie Brinkema denied the request, saying that giving them a dictionary would be like placing extraneous evidence in the jury room. She said jurors could submit a written question if they needed specific definitions.
Earlier this month, this jury found Moussaoui eligible for execution. Although Moussaoui was in jail on immigration charges on Sept. 11, the jury ruled that lies he told federal agents in the month before Sept. 11 kept them from identifying and stopping some of the hijackers.
Moussaoui pleaded guilty in April 2005 to conspiring with al Qaeda to fly jetliners into U.S. buildings. But he denied, as he had for four years, having any role in the Sept. 11 attacks. At his guilty plea, he said he was to fly a 747 jetliner into the White House at some later date if the U.S. refused to release a radical Egyptian sheik imprisoned for other terrorist crimes.
The reporters, backed by a half-dozen other news organizations, delivered a letter to the judge early Wednesday asking her to tell jurors — whose identities have remained secret — of the public's interest in knowing how the jury reached its verdict. They requested that the message be delivered as the jurors prepare to leave the courthouse at the end of the trial.
The reporters' letter offered willing jurors a place away from the courthouse for interviews and, for those concerned about their safety, the possibility of doing it off-camera.
The letter was signed by reporters from The Associated Press, Agence France Presse, Bloomberg News, CNN, Hearst Newspapers, the Los Angeles Times, the Minneapolis Star Tribune/McClatchy Newspapers, National Public Radio, Newsday, the New York Times, Radio France, Reuters, the Richmond Times-Dispatch and the Washington Post.
The jury ended its third day of deliberations Wednesday without reaching a decision on whether Moussaoui should be executed or spend life in prison for his role in the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.
Brinkema has kept a tight lid on the jury, warning journalists against interviewing or photographing jurors while the trial is in progress. She assured jurors that their names will never be made public by the court.
On Monday, as she finished giving the jury instructions for deliberations, Brinkema warned jurors that reporters might try to contact them once the trial is over.
"Under the First Amendment of the Constitution, we cannot prevent the media from trying to interview you, except they don't know who you are," Brinkema told the jurors. "You are not required to speak. But I am not gagging you because I can't. You have got a First Amendment right to speak as well."