I heard an intresting commentary about the trial the other day. It goes like this. The basis for the death penalty in the case is poor because the government is prosecuting Moussaoui for not incriminating himself and the other hujackers prior to 9-11. The line of thinking is that Moussaoui enacted his 5th amendment right and did not commit any crime by not telling the FBI about 9-11. Thoughts??? For the record Rush Limbaugh agrees with this. I found that odd.
Not entirely true. From the Miranda ruling you are protected from self incrimination when arrested. I know the 5th amendment does not permit acts of terrorism, but are criminals required to tell police of future crimes they have planned, or future crimes they know about if they aren't asked about them?
But the fact that he took the 5th prior to 9/11 is being used against him in court, as grounds for capital punishment. So the question is what type of precedent does this set. Does it diminish our 5th amendment rights, if our envoking them can be used against us.
From the discussion on the radio I got the impression that he was a natrualized citizen. If not its all moot.
http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/law/july-dec03/moussaoui_9-26.html i have seen many recent cases where these non citizens are complaining about their "rights" and getting ACLU representation and such. they aren't american citizens!!!!!!!!
Bingo!!! Ok, but as Deek pointed out, does the 5th amnedment right apply to a non citizen? How deep does this rabbit hole go!?
Now here's what I don't get.... http://www.fff.org/comment/com0306i.asp This is old stuff from 2003 but it seems to be stating that the Sixth amendment deals with prosecutions of both US and foreign citizens. Following that same vein of logic, Does the Fifth amendment somehow apply to all people that the US is prosecuting regardless of their citizenship status?
I thought of this but didn't want to bring it up. This website seems to suggest the 5th and 6th amendments apply to everyone: http://www.lawcollective.org/article.php?id=185 it states The wikipedia article says the same http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fifth_Amendment_to_the_United_States_Constitution
