Defendant silent during brief appearance in Virginia courtroom

12/20/2001

Associated Press

ALEXANDRIA, Va. – Zacarias Moussaoui, the first man indicted in the Sept. 11 attacks, briefly appeared Wednesday in the suburban Washington courthouse where he will be facing trial.

Sporting a full beard and wearing a brown shirt and khaki pants, Mr. Moussaoui sat between his attorneys as the six charges accusing him of conspiring to murder thousands were read by U.S. Magistrate Thomas Jones.

Mr. Moussaoui did not speak during the appearance.

"Your honor, on counts one, two, three, and four, the maximum penalty is death," Assistant U.S. Attorney Robert Spencer told the magistrate.

Mr. Moussaoui was transported amid tight security from New York, where he had been held since shortly after the Sept. 11 attacks, to the U.S. District Courthouse in Alexandria, Va., a short distance from the site where one jetliner crashed into the Pentagon.

About a dozen U.S. marshals were in the courtroom, including two in plainclothes who escorted Mr. Moussaoui to a table to join his lawyers for the brief appearance.

Some armed marshals, wearing bulletproof vests, guarded the courthouse.

Mr. Moussaoui will appear in the same courthouse on Jan. 2 to be arraigned on the six charges. At that time, he'll go before U.S. District Court Judge Leonie Brinkema, who will oversee his trial.

Gerald Zerkin, one of Mr. Moussaoui's attorneys, told the court Wednesday that the defense was "not in a position to request bail at this time." Mr. Moussaoui was ordered held in custody until Jan. 2.

"You are here because an indictment was returned" by a grand jury, the magistrate explained, before reading the charges.

Mr. Moussaoui briefly brought his hand up to his chin and leaned on his elbow as the charges were read. He otherwise sat motionless, escorted out of the courtroom by marshals before the magistrate left the bench.

Mr. Moussaoui, 33, is charged with conspiring to commit acts of terrorism, aircraft piracy, destruction of aircraft, use of weapons of mass destruction, murder of U.S. employees, and destruction of U.S. property.