Judge Reviews Moussaoui Death Penalty

— -- Judge Rethinks Death Penalty for Moussaoui

W A S H I N G T O N, July 12 — The federal judge presidingover the case of Zacarias Moussaoui, the only person charged inconnection with the Sept. 11 attacks, said she would considerthe constitutionality of the federal death penalty act beforedeciding whether U.S. prosecutors can seek the death penalty.

District Judge Leonie Brinkema issued an order late onThursday requiring federal prosecutors to file a brief by July22 on the constitutionality of the Federal Death Penalty Act.

Her order came after Frank Dunham, the federal publicdefender assigned to Moussaoui's case but currently acting in a"standby" capacity, claimed that a recent Supreme Court rulingthrows into question the constitutionality of the law.

Dunham was fired by Moussaoui, who says he wants nothing todo with his former counsel. But as standby attorney he filed amemorandum with the court this week to supplement previousdocuments opposing the government's plan to have Moussaouiexecuted if he is convicted of conspiring with the 19 hijackerswho carried out the Sept. 11 attacks on the United States.

Moussaoui was being held on immigration charges when theSept. 11 hijacked aircraft attacks occurred. U.S. officialsbelieve he was meant to be the 20th hijacker.

The 34-year-old French citizen of Moroccan descent has beencharged with six counts of conspiring to carry out the attacks.Four of the charges carry the death penalty.

In the latest filing, Dunham argued that the federal deathpenalty is unconstitutional because it does not require a grandjury to include "aggravating factors" in its indictment.

He referred to a June 24 decision in which the SupremeCourt ruled that only juries — not judges — can impose thedeath sentence. The justices declared unconstitutional capitalsentencing schemes in five states.

Dunham said the ruling would also apply to federal law andsaid a grand jury must consider the death penalty issue in acase like Moussaoui's.

Brinkema, who had been expected to rule shortly on whetherthe government could seek the death penalty in the case, saidshe would hold off until she addressed the issue of whether theFDPA was constitutional.

She said the government and the defense had until July 22to file documents on the issue.

Moussaoui, who is not a lawyer, has urged Brinkema not toaccept any motion or memorandum filed by his formercourt-appointed defense team.

But when Brinkema ruled that Moussaoui was mentallycompetent to defend himself, she also ordered Dunham and a teamof attorneys to remain as "standby" lawyers for legalconsultation and to take over the case if necessary.

Earlier this week, Brinkema raised the possibility ofrevisiting Moussaoui's competency. In a separate order filedlate on Thursday, she reappointed Edward MacMahon to the teamof defense lawyers in an effort to ensure a fair trial.

She noted that it was "painfully obvious" that Moussaouidid not understand significant aspects of criminal law and saidhe needed help from qualified attorneys.

"The quantity and quality of the defendant's pleadingsstrongly reinforce our conclusion that standby counsel mustremain in this case," she said.

Moussaoui has filed dozens of handwritten motions to thecourt. Most of them accuse Brinkema and the defense team ofconspiring to kill him, while others claim the FBI hadconducted an uncover surveillance operation of him and the 19suspected hijackers.

The government has denied the accusations.

— Reuters

WTC Effort May End With Only 2,000 Victims Identified

N E W Y O R K, July 12 — The man who has led the groundbreaking work toidentify remains of the World Trade Center dead has come to thegrim realization that the effort could end with just 2,000 victimsidentified.

Of the 2,823 people believed killed in the terrorist attack,1,229 victims — fewer than half — have been identified, 519 by DNAalone.

Dr. Robert Shaler, the city medical examiner's chief of forensicbiology, said in an interview with The Associated Press that theME's office will continue to exhaust forensic technology in anundertaking expected to last until the end of the year. But if thefinal number is 2,000, he said, "I think we'll have done a prettygood job."

"If we get that high —" Shaler said, hesitating — "I don'tthink I'll feel really, really glad, but I'll feel like we've donethe best we can do."

Experts have said some victims probably were vaporized bycrushing concrete or intense fires and would never be identified.City officials have hesitated to venture any estimates, for fearthat victims' families might interpret any number as an endpointwhere the work will stop.

For Shaler, who says he's "obsessed" with the task ofidentifying the dead, the only endpoint is when all available DNAtechnology has been tapped.

The ME's office has become the last wisp of hope for manyfamilies. The recovery effort ended last month at ground zero and,on Monday, the last bit of rubble will be sifted at a Staten Islandlandfill.

The medical examiner's office, which for 10 months has beenconducting the largest forensic investigation in U.S. history, willbear the entire burden of returning loved ones to torn families.

Shaler manages about two dozen staffers who work full-time ontrade center identification at the facility along Manhattan's EastRiver.

Families regularly visit the operation, affecting the dynamic inthe laboratory as well as the scientists themselves, who regularlydeal with crime scenes and grisly evidence.

"Being in this profession and being involved in a laboratoryisolates you from the real world, and I think you get hardened. Yousteel yourself against the emotional aspects of it," Shaler said."That barrier has been broken down, and I'm much more emotionalnow."

Solving a scientific problem has never been so emotional, saidShaler, who meets families regularly at the office. They tour thefacilities, usually peppering him with questions.

"He's been very direct, and up front," said Terry Strada,whose husband, Thomas Strada, has not been found. "He doesn't giveyou any false hope, but at the same time he says, 'If he's here,we'll find him.' "

Strada said she calls Shaler every few weeks to check on theprogress. She recently visited the office, where she believes herhusband's remains are among the thousands in cold storage.

"Getting close to these [relatives] is very difficult," Shalersaid. "What it does, though, is it instills in you an obsession tohelp them. And I think that's what drives me now."

—The Associated Press

Report: Feds Scope Mosque Group for Al Qaeda Ties

S E A T T L E, July 12 — The FBI and a federal grand jury areinvestigating a group affiliated with a now-defunct local mosquefor possible ties to the al Qaeda terror network, according to apublished report today.

The Seattle Times, quoting law-enforcement sources it did notidentify by name, said members of the group have ties toEgyptian-born Abu Hamza Al-Masri, who runs the Finsbury Park mosquein north London and is wanted in Yemen on terrorism charges.

He told The Associated Press in October that it would be ablessing if God destroyed the United States.

The newspaper reported that the investigation has focused onsome members of the now-defunct Dar-us-Salaam mosque in Seattle'sCentral District. Federal agents haveidentified a half-dozen core members of the group but have gatheredinformation on more than 100 others who had dealings with themosque.

The Times said the group includes Semi Osman, of Tacoma, aBritish citizen and former preacher at the mosque. He is incustody after being indicted last month by a federal grand jury ona charge of fraudulently trying to gain citizenship through a shammarriage and a charge of possessing a semiautomatic handgun with aserial number removed.

At the time of Osman's indictment, Assistant U.S. Attorney ToddGreenberg said prosecutors might ask for a sentence of as much as25 years if Osman were convicted. That is a penalty used only forimmigration violations committed to facilitate acts ofinternational terrorism.

Osman's attorney, Robert Leen, acknowledged to the Times thathis client has been pressured to cooperate in the larger Seattleinvestigation. Leen denies Osman is a terrorist.

The Times said federal investigators believe the Seattle groupmay have scouted a ranch near Bly, Ore., in the fall of 1999 as apossible site for a terrorist training camp. About 15 members ofthe group visited the southern Oregon ranch that year for targetpractice, sources told the newspaper. And two men from the AbuHamza mosque later made a separate visit there.

The Dar-us-Salaam mosque closed after being damaged in theFebruary 2001 earthquake. The Times said a rift had occurredbetween its radicals, most of them American-born, and itsmainstream Muslim members, mostly foreign-born. The more mainstreamAfrican Muslims eventually broke away and opened another mosque.

The newspaper said Seattle police had been told at one pointabout a "large amount of weapons stored inside the mosque."

The newspaper's account comes amid other reports that some FBIagents are working closely with federal Treasury agents to conducta more specialized search for U.S. residents who might be workingin an advisory capacity to al Qaeda cells.

The AP reported Thursday that some intelligence officialsestimate there may be as many as 5,000 people in the United Stateswith some sort of connection to al Qaeda. That number, larger thanother estimates, includes all those in the "realm of suspicion"and those who may know of terrorist activities but not participatein them, one official told the AP on condition of anonymity.

—The Associated Press

House Completes Work on Homeland Security Department

W A S H I N G T O N, July 12 — A dozen House committees have completed workon the new Homeland Security Department President Bush wants,leaving it to a special House panel to put together one bill thatreconciles some major differences with the president on the futurerole of such agencies as the Coast Guard and the INS.

The House Government Reform Committee, working past midnightThursday, was the last to approve its portion of the legislationthat would combine some 100 agencies with security functions,comprising some 170,000 employees, under one federal roof.

Deviating from other committee decisions, Government Reform wentalong with the president in including the Coast Guard, the FederalEmergency Management Agency, the Immigration and NaturalizationService and the Secret Service in the new department.

Retaining those agencies in the first new Cabinet departmentsince Veterans Affairs in 1989, "is critical to the core missionand overall success of this new department," said committeeChairman Dan Burton, R-Ind.

The focus now turns to the special panel headed by HouseMajority Leader Dick Armey, R-Texas, who must deal with the dozensof suggested revisions to the president's proposals and meld theminto one package. He said today his panel intends to complete itswork by the end of next week so the full House can vote on it thefollowing week.

The Senate also must pass its version of the legislation. Senateleaders have said they intend to act this month, althoughAppropriations Committee Chairman Robert Byrd, D-W.Va., hasobjected to that fast pace.

Senate Minority Leader Trent Lott, R-Miss., said in a statementThursday that attempts to block a vote on a measure with broadbipartisan support "would be a very unwise decision."

Four Cabinet secretaries appeared at the first hearing ofArmey's special committee Thursday to stress the urgency ofcongressional action.

"We must be willing to make a dramatic transformation in lightof the dramatic threats we face," said Treasury Secretary PaulO'Neill, accompanied by Secretary of State Colin Powell, DefenseSecretary Donald H. Rumsfeld, and Attorney General John Ashcroft.

But some House members from both parties said Bush's plan wenttoo far and moved too fast.

The House Transportation Committee, responsible for 54 percentof the employees and 50 percent of the estimated $37 billion budgetof the new department, defied Bush's plan Thursday in deciding tolet the Transportation Department keep the Coast Guard and let theFederal Emergency Management Agency remain independent.

In both cases, the argument was the main functions of thoseAgencies — such as search-and-rescue and drug interdiction for theCoast Guard and FEMA's relief for natural disasters — would getsecondary treatment in a department devoted to fighting terrorism.

House committees also rejected Bush's request for broadauthority to transfer money within the new agency's budget withoutcongressional approval; kept the bulk of animal and plant healthinspection programs in the Agriculture Department; and made clearthe Health and Human Services Department would maintain primaryresponsibility for health research.

— The Associated Press