Death for Moussaoui?

Jurors will soon decide whether Zacarias Moussaoui will get the the death penalty for his role in the September 11th, 2001, attacks that killed some 3,000 people in New York, Washington, D.C. and Pennsylvania. Originally, I supported the death penalty for this scumbag, thinking along the lines of stoning or public hanging. But recently, I've given the life-in-prison argument some thought. The idea of Moussaoui rotting in some prison, living to a ripe old age while being thumped and buggered routinely by other convicts, has a certain appeal to it. Sentencing Moussaoui to prison would give him the opposite of what he wants: a slow, agonizing slide into the minor footnotes of history.

However, a promptly executed death sentence would send the message to the run-of-the-mill-wannabe-terrorist that we are serious about this kind of thing. It won't change the minds of the hardcore zealots and whackos out there who want to destroy everything western, but it might scare the Terry Nichols types. And killing Moussaoui won't make him a martyr, although he seems to believe to the contrary. I doubt that Al Qaeda or its operatives are watching this case at all.

So I say deliberate, discuss and decide, jurors. Then sentence this guy to what he deserves: death! Of course, a death sentence in our justice system is tantamount to life in prison anyway, when you consider the appeals process. So maybe that's the best of both worlds!