Judge tells Moussaoui: ‘You will die with a whimper’

[12:40 p.m.]

U.S. Judge Leonie Brinkema sent Zacarias Moussaoui to prison for life Thursday, to “die with a whimper,” for his role in the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. He declared: “God save Osama bin Laden - you will never get him.”

Mrs. Brinkema and the unrepentant Moussaoui capped the two-month trial with an intense exchange that will mark the defendant’s last public words before his incarceration in a maximum security prison in Colorado.

A day earlier, a jury rejected the government’s case to have Moussaoui executed, deciding instead to send him to prison for life without a chance of parole. Not all jurors were convinced that Moussaoui, who was in jail on immigration charges on September 11, 2001, had a significant part in the attacks, despite his boastful claims that he did.

Mrs. Brinkema firmly refused to be interrupted by the 37-year-old defendant as she disputed his claim that his life sentence meant America had lost and he had won.

“Mr. Moussaoui, when this proceeding is over, everyone else in this room will leave to see the sun … hear the birds … and they can associate with whomever they want,” she said.

She went on: “You will spend the rest of your life in a supermax prison. It’s absolutely clear who won.”

And she said it was proper he will be kept away from outsiders, unable to speak publicly again.

“Mr. Moussaoui, you came here to be a martyr in a great big bang of glory,” she said, “but to paraphrase the poet T.S. Eliot, instead you will die with a whimper.”

At that point, Moussaoui tried again to interrupt her, but she raised her voice and spoke over him.

“You will never get a chance to speak again and that’s an appropriate ending.”

She sentenced Moussaoui to six life terms without the chance of parole.

She informed him of his right to appeal the sentence and said she would ask his court-appointed lawyers to file the required notice as a precaution before relieving them from the case. “I believe it would be an act of futility,” she said of an appeal, “but you do have a right.”

Lisa Dolan, who lost her husband Bob in the attack on the Pentagon, was one of three family members of victims allowed to speak at the brief sentencing hearing.

She turned to Moussaoui said, “There is still one final judgment day.” Moussaoui sat in his chair staring at Mrs. Dolan and the other family witnesses, Rosemary Dillard and Abraham Scott, betraying no emotion as they spoke.

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