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Moussaoui: Closing Arguments and the Martyr Issue

The Judge in the Zacarias Moussaoui trial has barred the defense from playing the martyr card in its closing argument:

The latest strange turn in Moussaoui's behavior could bolster the defense's claims that he would say anything to achieve martyrdom. Defense attorney Edward MacMahon told jurors in opening remarks that Moussaoui can only achieve that now if they vote to execute him. "Don't make him a hero," MacMahon pleaded.

Prosecutors got Brinkema to bar a repeat of that plea as an emotional rather than legal argument. But she agreed to allow MacMahon to argue Wednesday that evidence of a desire for martyrdom calls into question the credibility of Moussaoui's confession to being a part of Sept. 11.

I think she's wrong and that it's entirely proper for the defense to tell the jury in closing arguments that Moussaoui wants to be a martyr. Similar arguments were made in the 2001 Embassy Bombers' trial and were among the reasons the jury returned a life sentence. The lead prosecutor in the case, by the way, was Patrick Fitzgerald.

In the 18-page jury verdict form ten jurors cited the likelihood that execution would make Al-'Owhali a martyr for al Qaeda's cause as a factor in considering life in prison. Ten jurors also found that Al-'Owhali committed the crime based on his sincere belief that his conduct was mandated by his religion and believed bin Laden's assertions that embassies were legitimate military targets. Eight noted that other members of the al Qaeda conspiracy arrested or charged in the bombings will not be punished by death.

From the closing argument:

Now, all of you know the power of

4 martyrdom. It's not just an Islamic thing.

5 All of us know the name of Joan of Arc because

6 she was burned at the stake. But it's not just

7 big people who are immortalized by martyrdom.

8 Small people, too. You all know the name

9 Nathan Hale: I regret that I have but one life

10 to give for my country. He was just a soldier

11 in the revolutionary war, just a Vermont

12 soldier. No one would know who he was, had he

13 be held in a prisoner of war camp, but,

14 instead, once he was executed, he became a

15 rallying cry, a martyr, and we remember him to

16 this day.

17 Send him to jail and he'll quickly be

18 forgotten by all except those who love him.

19 Kill him, and you've guaranteed him

20 immortality.

21 In the end if you kill him, you'll

22 allow him to be used twice.

and later,

In the end, if you give him life,

19 Khalfan will disappear. No one except those he

20 loves will remember him. Someone has to say

21 enough. Someone has to say I will not hurt

22 another family. Someone has to say I will not

23 become those I detest by doing what they do and

24 killing in the name of justice.

25 Let that be you.

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  • Re: Moussaoui: Closing Arguments and the Martyr I (none / 0) (#1)
    by HK on Wed Mar 29, 2006 at 08:01:39 AM EST
    This is a tricky one. While I am against capital punishment in all instances, I initially thought that martyrdom shouldn't be an issue in a legal argument. Reading the above has made me reconsider that. I do think that what someone said on another post about justice being about what we (law-abiding citizens) want and not what they (criminals) want is a valid point. Doing something solely so our opponents don't get their wishes is at best questionable and at worst childish. But do we really want more martyrs? At the end of the day, it is about what is best for us and the death penalty in this case (or, in my opinion, any case) is not it. The last few lines of the above closing argument are the most powerful I have ever read. I wish that the general public and not just that jury would consider the cost to society of becoming the thing they abhor.

    Off topic comments have been deleted. If you have something to say about Moussaoui and whether his lawyers should have been able to tell the jury not to make him a martyr, comment away. Otherwise, please move on.