Giuliani testifies in case for Moussaoui's execution

ALEXANDRIA, Va. -- Former New York Mayor Rudolph Giuliani described the opening horrors of Sept. 11, 2001, to Zacarias Moussaoui's death penalty trial Thursday, saying he was unwilling to believe people were jumping to their deaths from the World Trade Center until he saw it with his own eyes.

He said the image of two people jumping together, appearing to hold hands, sticks with him every day. Moussaoui affected a look of boredom when the prosecution played video of victims falling to their deaths.

Jurors riveted

Jurors watched intently; some family members in the courtroom hung their heads with reddened eyes during the testimony.

The jury was riveted when the prosecution summoned the first of the family members and friends of the victims to testify.

New York City police officer James Smith described the loss of his wife, Moira, who was also on the force. He showed a photo of her helping an injured man out of the stricken south tower; she died after she went back in.

"Moira was a gung-ho police officer, took chances, made a lot of arrests, until Patricia was born," he said, displaying family photos showing their daughter born in 1999. "She went from street narcotics to community policing. She decided that she wanted to be a mother even more than a police officer."

Retired firefighter Anthony Sanseviro described how a colleague died after he was hit by a falling body from one of the towers: "It was like a missile coming in."

Giuliani took the stand after prosecutor Rob Spencer braced jurors for the painful testimony they were going to hear over the next few weeks. His presentation opened the final phase of the drawn-out trial that will determine whether Moussaoui is executed or sent to prison for life.

Giuliani said that when he arrived at the scene, his deputy told him how bad the situation was and that people were jumping from the high floors of the towers. "I concluded or hoped he was wrong," he said.

But then he saw people falling and "I froze. I realized in that couple of seconds, it switched my thinking and emotions. I said, 'We're in uncharted territory.'"

Extra marshals were on hand when Giuliani walked past Moussaoui and took the stand.

Spencer argued that the voices of the victims of the attacks and their anguished families should be all the jury needs to hear to decide whether Moussaoui, an acknowledged al-Qaida terrorist, should die for his crimes.

Spencer described one call from a woman on the 83rd floor of the second tower to fall. "The floor is completely engulfed," she said. "We're on the floor and we can't breathe. ... I don't see any more air ... I'm going to die, aren't I?"

Only person charged

Moussaoui, 37, is the only person charged in this country in the Sept. 11 attacks. On Monday, the jury concluded that Moussaoui was directly responsible for at least one death on that day and is therefore eligible for execution.

His trial is to hear the cockpit voice recordings from United Flight 93, which crashed into a western Pennsylvania field on Sept. 11, after passengers fought back against the hijackers. The tape has never been heard publicly.

Prosecutors also planned to summon family members to testify and they were poised to play phone calls from people trapped in the World Trade Center and speaking their last words to 911 operators.

"You cannot understand the magnitude of that day unless you hear it from the victims themselves," Spencer said. Moussaoui smiled several times when the prosecution mentioned his enthusiasm for the attacks.

Defense lawyer Gerald Zerkin acknowledged that evidence on the impact on the victims will be overwhelming. But he urged jurors to "somehow maintain your equilibrium .... You must nevertheless open yourselves to the possibility of a sentence other than death."

Zerkin described how Moussaoui grew up with little religious training and fell under the influence of radical Muslims when he traveled to London in hopes of becoming a businessman.

Zerkin alluded to a history of schizophrenia in Moussaoui's family and said several doctors hired by the defense believe he is mentally ill.

Spencer countered: "It was his choice to become a terrorist and it was a choice he was proud of."

Giuliani described "a minor earthquake" when the first tower fell. He had just gotten to a nearby building that briefly served as a command center and was told the White House was on the line. He spoke to a deputy political director who confirmed to Giuliani that the Pentagon had been hit. The mayor asked to speak to President Bush, who was at a school in Florida, and was told instead that Vice President Dick Cheney would be getting back to him.

Just as he was about to be connected to Cheney, the lines went dead and the building shook, he said. Giuliani looked outside and someone told him, "The tower went down."

He said it was "like the storm scene in 'The Wizard of Oz.' ... Like a white cloud, with things flowing through the street."

Giuliani generally remained composed through more than two hours of testimony but his voice broke several times as he described the death of his secretary's husband, Terence S. Hatton. "It's unfortunate and tragic and it's a story multiplied by thousands," he said.

In a very brief cross-examination, Giuliani said the city of New York has bounced back better than ever.

Moussaoui was in a Minnesota jail on 9/11. Nevertheless, the jury concluded that Moussaoui could have thwarted or at least minimized the attacks if he had confessed his al-Qaida membership and his plan to hijack aircraft when federal agents arrested him in August 2001 after his efforts to obtain flight training aroused suspicion.