USA TODAY seeks cockpit recordings in Moussaoui case
By The Associated Press
08.21.02
ALEXANDRIA, Va. — A newspaper publisher is asking a judge to publicly release any cockpit tape recordings and transcripts introduced at the trial of Zacarias Moussaoui, the accused Sept. 11 conspirator.
U.S. District Judge Leonie Brinkema said yesterday that the request by USA TODAY's publisher was premature because she hasn't decided whether to allow the government to use the tapes.
She asked the government to provide her with a copy of the recordings and any transcripts prepared from them so she could privately review them. The trial is scheduled to begin Jan. 6.
The newspaper's court motion was a reaction to a motion by prosecutors, who said they planned to play cockpit tapes from United Flight 93 but asked that the recordings not be available outside the courtroom. The hijacked plane crashed in Pennsylvania after passengers apparently stormed the cockpit.
Gannett Satellite Information Network Inc., which publishes USA TODAY, said the tapes would be played in court for their emotional impact, not to determine Moussaoui's guilt or innocence.
The newspaper does not seek to intensify the pain inflicted on families of the attack victims, the motion said, and suggested that Brinkema determine which portions of the tape should be withheld.
The government had cited a law that prevents disclosure of cockpit voice recordings, except in a courtroom. In this instance, the newspaper said, the recordings already have been disclosed to other government agencies and were played for some relatives of the victims of Flight 93.
"Because the tapes have already been disclosed, the statute's mandate simply does not apply," the newspaper said.