Martyrdom Denied

When Zacarias Moussaoui was sentenced to life in prison, I was relieved. Of course, as a death penalty opponent I would've never supported his execution. But beyond that, he seemed to be inflating his involvement in 9/11 with the goal of provoking his own "martyrdom".

And sure enough, faced with the prospect of a lifetime in near-isolation at the Supermax prison in Florence, Colorado, yesterday Moussaoui submitted a motion to withdraw his guilty plea and get a new trial:

"I had thought I would be sentenced to death based on the emotions and anger toward me for the deaths on Sept. 11," Moussaoui explained. "But after reviewing the jury verdict and reading how the jurors set aside their emotions and disgust for me and focused on the law and the evidence ... I now see that it is possible that I can receive a fair trial even with Americans as jurors."

Unfortunately for Moussaoui (and let this be a lesson to the rest of you!) federal rules prohibit withdrawing a guilty plea after sentencing. And so his motion was quickly rejected.

For the complete, deeply-ironic story, go here.