Opinion ID: 1463880
Heading Depth: 4
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: The July 2002 Guilty Plea Attempt

Text: On July 18, 2002, Moussaoui informed the court that he had knowledge of the 9/11 attacks, knew exactly who d[id] it,. . . which group, who participated, [and] when it was decided, and wanted to plead guilty. J.A. 858-59. Moussaoui stated that he believed that the guilty plea would save [his] life, because the jury [would] be . . . able to evaluate how much responsibility [he] ha[d]. J.A. 858. After warning Moussaoui that his words could be used against him and suggesting that the Government might enter into plea negotiations with him, the district court gave Moussaoui a week to consider his decision. Defense counsel again challenged Moussaoui's competency and renewed their concerns regarding Moussaoui's access to the classified discovery, asserting that there is exculpatory evidence which has not been provided to him and that his plea of guilty may mean that he might never have the benefit of such information to use to contest his guilt. J.A. 866. At the scheduled Rule 11 hearing, see Fed.R.Crim.P. 11, [2] Moussaoui again expressed his belief that the jury might find him more credible and decline to impose the death penalty if he pled guilty. However, Moussaoui was ultimately unwilling to admit to the facts necessary to support a guilty plea to the charged conspiracies and withdrew his request.