Moussaoui to testify in death penalty sentencing hearings on 9/11 charges News
Moussaoui to testify in death penalty sentencing hearings on 9/11 charges

[JURIST] New court documents have been released outlining potential arguments to be made during the penalty phase of proceedings against 9/11 suspect Zacarias Moussaoui [JURIST news archive]. According to the transcript of an October hearing recently unsealed, prosecutors will argue Moussaoui deserves the death penalty because he "lied to federal agents to allow his al Qaeda 'brothers' to go forward with the operation to fly planes into American buildings." Defense attorneys plan to show that Moussaoui knew very little about the September 11th plot and will attack the government, including the Clinton and Bush Administrations, for failing to respond to threat warnings. Moussaoui, who pleaded guilty [JURIST report] to six conspiracy charges [indictment] in April, intends to testify on his own behalf and has vowed to fight against the death penalty. Jury selection for the penalty phase is scheduled to begin on January 9 [JURIST report]. Monday's Washington Post has more. The US District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia maintains a list of case materials.

THIS DAY @ LAW

Fyodor Dostoevsky sentenced to death

Russian author Fyodor Dostoevsky was sentenced to death on November 16, 1849 over his involvement in the progressive Petrashevsky Circle of intellectuals. Dostoevsky and his codefendants were scheduled to be executed on December 22 of that year, but their execution was stayed by Tsar Nicholas I after the execution ritual had been carried out. Dostoevsky was sent to Siberia instead to serve a four-year sentence. Learn more about the mock execution of Dostoevsky.

Canada executed Metis leader for treason

On November 16, 1885, the Canadian government executed Metis leader Louis Riel for high treason in the wake of the "Northwest Rebellion" that had pitted the Metis (descendants of French traders and native tribes) in what is now Saskatchewan against Canadian troops. Although Riel has lately been rehabilitated as an Indigenous francophone patriot of the Canadian West, his trial and execution remain sore points between English and French Canada.

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