Moussaoui called delusional psychotic

Prosecutor argues for the Frenchman's sanity as defense psychologist testifies.

By MICHAEL J. SNIFFEN / The Associated Press

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A psychologist noted Moussaoui's contradictory and delusional behavior Tuesday:

Moussaoui's conviction that President Bush will free him.

His belief that if he sat with defense lawyers they would pretend he was attacking them so marshals would kill him.

His claim that the FBI bugged his electric fan before he was arrested and knew all about the plans for the Sept. 11 attack and that he could clear up the mysteries of that attack if only he could tell that story in court.

His demand for a Muslim lawyer, later dropped and then renewed.

His insistence that he had nothing to do with 9/11 and his later claim that he was to hijack a fifth jetliner that day and fly it into the White House.

His early effort to plead guilty and ask for the death penalty and his later vow to fight execution.

His demand that defense lawyers stop filing motions because filing them violated his religion, followed by the dozens of motions he filed himself.

ALEXANDRIA, VA. - The defense portrayed Zacarias Moussaoui Tuesday as a delusional psychotic who reversed tactics and strategy constantly, while a prosecutor pointed out how well the confessed Sept. 11 conspirator has controlled his behavior under the stress of being on trial for his life.

Moussaoui himself best captured the day in one of his shouted comments on leaving court for a break: "Crazy or not crazy? That is the question!"

Defense attorney Gerald Zerkin set the day on a course few juries have seen: He opened the defense team's files to show how they concluded their own client cannot be believed.

Struggling to save Moussaoui's life, they claim he twice testified falsely to a greater role than he had in the Sept. 11, 2001, al-Qaida attacks in hope of achieving martyrdom through execution or enhancing his role in history.

Moussaoui has claimed the court-appointed defense lawyers are plotting to kill him.

It fell to prosecutor David Novak to try to shore up Moussaoui's reputation with the jury.

The vehicle for both lawyers was the questioning of defense psychologist Xavier Amador, a prickly witness who corrected his questioners repeatedly. Zerkin's zest for detail and Novak's pugnaciousness combined with Amador's quibbling to produce a day of often tedious testimony about abstruse psychological concepts.

The jurors managed to pay attention, even take some notes, but a pair took brief catnaps during bench conferences. And the entire courtroom - Moussaoui included - laughed in relief at every lighter exchange, such as when Novak noted that both he and Moussaoui had been warned by the judge about their behavior and Amador replied, "I won't compare you with Moussaoui."

Amador diagnosed the 37-year-old Frenchman of Moroccan descent as a paranoid schizophrenic after observing him since 2002.

Amador said Moussaoui was trying to "normalize" his paranoid beliefs, a common practice among schizophrenics. In certain circumstances, "They realize they've got to stop talking crazy," Amador said.

Amador said his diagnosis was confirmed during an hourlong visit in June 2004 to Moussaoui's jail cell. When the doctor refused to go away, Moussaoui spat water at him more than a dozen times.


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