Wow... Just... Wow.

[sarahmichelef]

Moussaoui gets life in prison.

I'm shocked, frankly. Given that he's the only person likely to be tried for 9/11, and how long the jury deliberated, I was sure they were going to sentence him to death.

Comments

[rufinia.livejournal.com]

I am actually not shocked. I figured the longer they deliberated that meant there was at least a few people saying "Lets not martyr him."

that and he's clearly a lying nutbag.

[alphasarah.livejournal.com]

Obviously there were... I just wasn't convinced that they were going to be the ones to prevail. There's too much emotion bound up in it.

And as for the nutbag element - well, yes. I've never been entirely convinced by his guilty plea - I think he *wants* to have been the 20th hijacker. His claim to have been tasked to fly a fifth plane only served to convince me further that he's like the pathetic geek girl in junior high who gets the quarterback to sign her yearbook and takes it as a sign that he's really secretly in love with her and they're destined to live happily ever after and make lots of beautiful babies.

[greyhame.livejournal.com]

I'm surprised, but not totally shocked -- I did think the longer they deliberated, the less likely he'd be put to death. I'm certainly glad: every step our society takes, however small (though indeed this may not have been all that small -- hard to judge just yet), away from the notion that the point of the criminal justice system is to exact revenge, brings us closer to having a right to call ourselves "civilized."

[blazing-sun16.livejournal.com]

I'm relieved. It's not just how I feel about the death penalty. For or against it, I'd think I'd be disturbed by the precedent of using it for crimes of *omission*. That would have been, as Chandler Bing once said, "Can: open; worms: everywhere."

Life in prison

[sprirtwolf.livejournal.com]

Politically, I think it was the right move... that way he's not a martyr for any cause.

Realistically, I thought that whether or not he had anything to do with 9/11, he is a crazy f*ck and it’s not good to have insane people willing to die wandering around, whether or not they actually do anything… it’s a liability. If drug dealers can still deal drugs from prison, then terrorists can also terrorize from prison.

Plus my tax dollars will not be paying for his prison sentence and the rest of his life. I’d rather buy ice cream. My world view is so simplistic sometimes.... but really, I'm glad it's over... whatever the outcome.

[7ptunderdog.livejournal.com]

I think it's better this way. Even though he's one of two people left (Scott Peterson) whom I think actually deserves the death penalty (even though I don't believe in it anymore). There's the small worry that now he can be used as a bargaining chip in a terrorist crisis, but I think someone will pull a Dahmer on him in prison (am I a bad person for considering starting a pool?).

[alphasarah.livejournal.com]

That might be tough - my understanding is that he's to be in solitary 23 hours a day and he'll have the option of an hour in the yard, by himself.