Zacarias Moussaoui, the only person in the United States charged in connection with the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, says he plans to plead guilty, The Washington Post reported.
If a judge finds Moussaoui mentally competent, he could enter the plea as early as this week, the Post reported in Tuesday's editions, citing sources familiar with the case. The government accused Moussaoui of participating in an al-Qaida conspiracy to commit terrorism that included the 2001 attacks on the World Trade Center in New York and the Pentagon in Washington.
Prosecutors and defense attorneys in the case declined to comment on the Post report when contacted Monday night by The Associated Press.
Moussaoui, a French citizen, tried to plead guilty in 2002 but took back the plea a week later. The Post sources said U.S. District Judge Leonie M. Brinkema in Alexandria, Va., is scheduled to meet with Moussaoui this week to determine whether he has the mental capacity to enter a plea.
The paper reported that in recent letters to the government and to Brinkema, Moussaoui said he is willing to accept the possibility of a death sentence. It said if the judge allows a guilty plea, she then likely would schedule a trial to determine a sentence.
The Los Angeles Times reported in Tuesday's editions that the letter was sent two weeks ago and quoted unnamed sources as saying Moussaoui's lawyers wanted his latest request thrown out, arguing that the letter is Moussaoui's naive attempt to win a hearing before the U.S. Supreme Court
Moussaoui was indicted in December 2001, but his trial has been delayed three times. In March the Supreme Court agreed with a lower appeals court that Moussaoui could not have access to three al-Qaida witnesses and that the government could seek the death penalty.
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