The 20th hijacker-an admitted member of al-Queda and terrorost Zacharias massaoui has pled guilty to multiple charges of attempted murder,destruction of property, destruction of an aircraft, etc., etc., My question is, the guy has refused defense counsel, and has repeatedly rebuffed the judge’s attempt to instruct him…so if the guilty plea is accepted, will they execute this guy?
I don’t really care (to me the world is better off minus one Al-Queda terrorist), and i’d gladly pull the switch on this bum. However, is there any point to keeping him alive? Could he provide any useful info on Al-Queda…or has he been too long out of touch with his controllers (to yield any useful intelligence)?
As an aside, i understand that the FBI believes an Al-Queda cell is active in portland, maine…anybody know anything about this?
The electric chair is known as the “hot seat” or the “hot squat.” I don’t think the phrase “hot shot” exists in association with it.
I also believe that federal prisoners are executed by lethal injection, in any case.
Sorry, couldn’t help nitpicking when I saw the thread title.
As for the actual question, either the sentence will be death because of the crime he is charged with or it won’t be. I don’t understand why you think the government would set aside the death penalty in a public trial. Any questions they have could be asked long before any sentence would be carried out, or before a trial would be convened, for that matter.
The only reason to plead guilty in a capital trial is to avoid the death penalty. Unless you want to die, which is a problem because sane people don’t want to die.
According to news reports, the government is still seeking the death penalty in this case, even if he does plead guilty…he didn’t work out any deal to plead guilty in exchange for no death penalty.
However, even if he does end up pleading guilty, a jury still has to decide whether or not he’ll get the death penalty.
[moderator hat on]
ralph. You really have to make up your mind what your post is about. You are in General Questions. We like to think that you will ask a nice, neat question that probably has a factual answer.
Your post contains a rant(The Pit), asks for opinions(IMHO), has the nugget of a Great Debate, and is actually asking three separate questions.
I think you had your basic question answered.
Think twice, post once. Closed.
samclem GQ moderator [/hat]