Moussaoui charges
A grand jury today indicted a man called Zacarias Moussaoui for conspiring
in the 11 September attacks. The six charges are as follows: Conspiracy to
Commit Acts of Terrorism Transcending National Boundaries, Conspiracy to
Commit Aircraft Piracy, Conspiracy to Destroy Aircraft, Conspiracy to Use
Weapons of Mass Destruction, Conspiracy to Murder United States Employees,
and Conspiracy to Destroy Property. The indictment
makes for interesting reading, as do the statutes under which he is
charged. I present below, for those who are interested, the text of the
sections. I have emphasized in bold italic type specific
sections that may be noteworthy.
Count One, Conspiracy to Commit Acts of Terrorism Transcending National
Boundaries (18 U.S.C. §§ 2332b(a)(2) & (c))
of Statute)
Section 2332b. Acts of terrorism transcending national boundaries
(a) Prohibited Acts. -
(1) Offenses. - Whoever, involving conduct transcending
national boundaries and in a circumstance described in
subsection
(b) -
(A) kills, kidnaps, maims, commits an assault resulting in
serious bodily injury, or assaults with a dangerous weapon any
person within the United States; or
(B) creates a substantial risk of serious bodily injury to
any other person by destroying or damaging any structure,
conveyance, or other real or personal property within the
United States or by attempting or conspiring to destroy or
damage any structure, conveyance, or other real or personal
property within the United States;
in violation of the laws of any State, or the United States,
shall be punished as prescribed in subsection (c).
(2) Treatment of threats, attempts and conspiracies. - Whoever
threatens to commit an offense under paragraph (1), or attempts
or conspires to do so, shall be punished under subsection
(c).
[...]
(c) Penalties. -
(1) Penalties. - Whoever violates this section shall be
punished -
(A) for a killing, or if death results to any person from
any
other conduct prohibited by this section, by death, or by
imprisonment for any term of years or for life;
(B) for kidnapping, by imprisonment for any term of years or
for life;
(C) for maiming, by imprisonment for not more than 35 years;
(D) for assault with a dangerous weapon or assault resulting
in serious bodily injury, by imprisonment for not more than 30
years;
(E) for destroying or damaging any structure, conveyance, or
other real or personal property, by imprisonment for not more
than 25 years;
(F) for attempting or conspiring to commit an offense, for
any term of years up to the maximum punishment that would have
applied had the offense been completed; and
(G) for threatening to commit an offense under this section,
by imprisonment for not more than 10 years.
(2) Consecutive sentence. - Notwithstanding any other provision
of law, the court shall not place on probation any person
convicted of a violation of this section; nor shall the term of
imprisonment imposed under this section run concurrently with any
other term of imprisonment.
Count Two, Conspiracy to Commit Aircraft Piracy (49 U.S.C. §§
46502(a)(1)(A) and (a)(2)(B))
of Statute)
Section 46502. Aircraft piracy
(a) In Special Aircraft Jurisdiction. - (1) In this subsection -
(A) ”aircraft piracy” means seizing or exercising control of
an aircraft in the special aircraft jurisdiction of the United
States by force, violence, threat of force or violence, or any
form of intimidation, and with wrongful intent.
[...]
(2) An individual committing or attempting or conspiring to
commit aircraft piracy -
[...]
(B) notwithstanding section 3559(b) of title 18, if the death
of another individual results from the commission or attempt,
shall be put to death or imprisoned for life.
[...]
Count Three, Conspiracy to Destroy Aircraft (18 U.S.C. §§
32(a)(7) and (34))
of Statute), (Text
of Statute)
Section 32. Destruction of aircraft or aircraft facilities
(a) Whoever willfully -
(1) sets fire to, damages, destroys, disables, or
wrecks any
aircraft in the special aircraft jurisdiction of the United
States or any civil aircraft used, operated, or employed in
interstate, overseas, or foreign air commerce;
[...]
(7) attempts or conspires to do anything prohibited under
paragraphs (1) through (6) of this subsection;
shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than twenty
years or both.
Section 34. Penalty when death results
Whoever is convicted of any crime prohibited by this chapter,
which has resulted in the death of any person, shall be subject
also to the death penalty or to imprisonment for life.
Count Four, Conspiracy to Use Weapons of Mass Destruction (18 U.S.C.
§§ 2332a(a))
of Statute)
Section 2332a. Use of certain weapons of mass destruction
(a) Offense Against a National of the United States or
Within the United States. - A person who, without lawful
authority, uses, threatens, or attempts or conspires to use, a weapon of mass
destruction [From the indictment: "namely, airplanes intended for use
as missiles, bombs, and similar devices". -JHM] (other than a
chemical weapon as that term is defined
in section 229F), including any biological agent, toxin, or vector
(as those terms are defined in section 178) -
(1) against a national of the United States while such national
is outside of the United States;
(2) against any person within the United States, and the
results of such use affect interstate or foreign commerce or,
in
the case of a threat, attempt, or conspiracy, would have
affected
interstate or foreign commerce; or
(3) against any property that is owned, leased or used by the
United States or by any department or agency of the United
States, whether the property is within or outside of the United
States,
shall be imprisoned for any term of years or for life, and if
death
results, shall be punished by death or imprisoned for any term of
years or for life.
Count Five, Conspiracy to Murder United States Employees (18 U.S.C.
§§ 1114 & 1117)
of Statute), (Text
of Statute), (Text
of Statute)
Section 1114. Protection of officers and employees of the United
States
Whoever kills or attempts to kill any officer or employee of
the
United States or of any agency in any branch of the United
States
Government (including any member of the uniformed services) while
such officer or employee is engaged in or on account of the
performance of official duties, or any person assisting such an
officer or employee in the performance of such duties or on account
of that assistance, shall be punished -
(1) in the case of murder, as provided under section
1111;
(2) in the case of manslaughter, as provided under section
1112; or
(3) in the case of attempted murder or manslaughter, as
provided in section 1113.
Section 1117. Conspiracy to murder
If two or more persons conspire to violate section
1111, 1114,
1116, or 1119 of this title, and one or more of such persons do
any
overt act to effect the object of the conspiracy, each shall be
punished by imprisonment for any term of years or for
life.
Referenced:
Section 1111. Murder
(a) Murder is the unlawful killing of a human being with malice
aforethought. Every murder perpetrated by poison, lying in
wait,
or any other kind of willful, deliberate, malicious, and
premeditated killing; or committed in the perpetration of, or
attempt to perpetrate, any arson, escape, murder,
kidnapping,
treason, espionage, sabotage, aggravated
sexual abuse or sexual
abuse, burglary, or robbery; or perpetrated from a premeditated
design unlawfully and maliciously to effect the death of any human
being other than him who is killed, is murder in the first degree.
Any other murder is murder in the second degree.
(b) Within the special maritime and territorial jurisdiction of
the United States,
Whoever is guilty of murder in the first degree shall be
punished
by death or by imprisonment for life;
Whoever is guilty of murder in the second degree, shall be
imprisoned for any term of years or for life.
Count Six, Conspiracy to Destroy Property (18 U.S.C. §§
844(f),(i),(n))
of Statute)
Section 844. Penalties
(f)(1) Whoever maliciously damages or destroys, or
attempts to
damage or destroy, by means of fire or an explosive, any
building,
vehicle, or other personal or real property in whole or in part
owned or possessed by, or leased to, the United States,
or any
department or agency thereof, shall be imprisoned for not less
than
5 years and not more than 20 years, fined under this title, or
both.
(2) Whoever engages in conduct prohibited by this subsection, and
as a result of such conduct, directly or proximately causes
personal injury or creates a substantial risk of injury to any
person, including any public safety officer performing duties,
shall be imprisoned for not less than 7 years and not more than 40
years, fined under this title, or both.
(3) Whoever engages in conduct prohibited by this subsection, and
as a result of such conduct directly or proximately causes the
death of any person, including any public safety officer performing
duties, shall be subject to the death penalty, or
imprisoned for
not less than 20 years or for life, fined under this title, or
both.
[...]
(i) Whoever maliciously damages or destroys, or
attempts to
damage or destroy, by means of fire or an explosive, any
building,
vehicle, or other real or personal property used in interstate or
foreign commerce or in any activity affecting interstate or foreign
commerce shall be imprisoned for not less than 5 years and not
more
than 20 years, fined under this title, or both; and if personal
injury results to any person, including any public safety officer
performing duties as a direct or proximate result of conduct
prohibited by this subsection, shall be imprisoned for not less
than 7 years and not more than 40 years, fined under this title, or
both; and if death results to any person, including any public
safety officer performing duties as a direct or proximate
result of
conduct prohibited by this subsection, shall also be subject to
imprisonment for any term of years, or to the death
penalty or to
life imprisonment.
[...]
(n) Except as otherwise provided in this section, a person who
conspires to commit any offense defined in this chapter
shall be
subject to the same penalties (other than the penalty of death)
as
the penalties prescribed for the offense the commission of which
was the object of the conspiracy.
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