The families of September 11 victims, some seeking revenge and others just answers, watched lawyers argue on Monday whether the only man tried in the United States with the 2001 attacks should live or die.
More than 500 family members signed up to follow the sentencing hearing for ZACARIAS MOUSSAOUI in Alexandria, Virginia, via live closed circuit feeds set up in courthouses in Manhattan, Long Island, Pennsylvania, Boston and Newark.
"I watched him very carefully. I watched his body movement ... he seemed to be totally indifferent," said Maureen Santora, 60, who was among 70 people gathered in a Manhattan federal courthouse just a stone's throw from where the World Trade Center once stood.
"I came because I wanted to see if I could get an understanding of how someone could hate so much that he was willing to kill off thousands of people without flinching, without remorse, without shame," said Santora, whose firefighter son died when the twin towers collapsed.
It is only the second time that a federal trial has been broadcast in this way, following a similar facility offered to the families of victims of the Oklahoma bomber Timothy McVeigh.
Lillian Tetreault, whose daughter Renee was killed aboard one of the hijacked planes flown into the World Trade Center, said that she felt nothing but anger as she watched the images of Moussaoui in court.
"The thing that really bothers me, is that he just seems to be enjoying all this," said Tetreault, who traveled to New York from her Rhode Island home to see the simulcast. "Right now he's a glorified person. It really angers me a lot. I hope he gets what's coming to him," she said, adding that she favored a death penalty.
Moussaoui was arrested in August 2001 and was already behind bars on the day of the September 11 attacks. Prosecutors contend that he was part of the conspiracy and could have prevented the terrorist strike if he had cooperated with the authorities.
While the focus of the sentencing trial is on Moussaoui and his efforts to avoid the death penalty, it is also an opportunity for relatives to see some unanswered questions posed to various US government agencies.
"There were a lot of classified documents and what have you that the defense has been able to read, and I want to see what's submitted in court," said William Doyle, who lost his son in the twin towers. "I'm concerned that there's only one person that's being tried, and I'd like to see all the people that failed us being held accountable," Doyle said.
Defense lawyers are expected to argue that the FBI knew far more about the September 11 strikes than it has previously admitted.
Some family members like Christine Huhn, who lost her husband, felt unable to attend the closed circuit viewings.
"It just probably would make me angry because the government had him in custody and they really didn't do anything to investigate him, before 9/11," Huhn said. "I didn't really feel like the FBI had their act together," she added.
Kurt Horning, who lost his son Matthew, agreed that the idea of watching the trial held no attraction whatsoever.
"What happens to Moussaoui is out of my hands and I really don't want to justify his existence by showing up," Horning said. "I've suffered enough pain. If I want more I'll just hit myself over the head with a hammer," he added.
Media were barred from the simulcasts, but Santora said that the families in the Manhattan courthouse watched the opening arguments being made in rapt silence.
"Everyone was very still and quiet. We only talked during the breaks," she said. "So far there's nothing they said that I did not already know," she said. "But I hope tomorrow there will be some facts, apart from the fact that [Moussaoui] lied."
9/11 families watch Moussaoui trial on closed circuit
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