Moussaoui: Jailed or Killed? The post sentencing debate.

Did he deserve to die? Was a life sentence meet? Did he do ENOUGH to qualify for the death penalty? Was he a good enough scapegoat? Why not?

These questions engrossed jurors during their deliberations in the Zacarias Moussaoui sentencing. Ultimately, after three voting sessions of (11-1, 10-2 and 10-2, all in favor of the death penalty) the jurors were forced into sentencing the conspirator to life terms in jail. I bear no beef with the holdout. In fact, I  find this behavior quite insightful.

Here are two reasons I believe this minutia- in the vast realm of people who wanted Moussaoui to suffer in a gas chamber- were extremely justified in their thoughts:

1)They felt Moussaoui would be hailed a martyr and vehemently avenged by related radicals. This would have created a much more vexing situation. Additionally, the Moussaoui updates would continue DAY AFTER DAY until a few days after the event, with individuals continuously debating the case and his appeal procedures, etc. This particular justification (though political in intent) is deep in understanding of foreign policy issues implicit within the case.

2)They felt Moussaoui's role was quite negligible in the events of 9/11. Though he was unabashedly anti-Western/American throughout the proceedings (even going so far as to 'dismiss' his appointed lawyers), the facts of the case positioned the conspirator as nothing more than a limited associated. He was the ONLY person caught related to the crashes. Thus, he was tried by the prosecutors as the end all be all. They wanted to pin the crimes of EVERYONE on this one man. The amusing thing was watching Zaccy boy trying to admit to all their crimes. He WANTED to be the big man on the Al Qaeda campus. He wanted the glory. And realizing this, the jurors sent him to the one place he would never be able to experience this: a maximum security prison in the middle of nowhere, Colorado.

Good or bad? Should he have died?