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ALEXANDRIA, Va. (AP) — A federal judge rule Tuesday that Zacarias Moussaoui will not be in the courtroom for jury selection at his upcoming death-penalty trial, after Moussaoui again defied the judge at a pre-trial hearing. U.S. District Judge Leonie Brinkema said her main reason for holding Tuesday's hearing was to determine "how Mr. Moussaoui plans to behave ... whether you plan to remain quiet ... or whether you plan to make speeches." Moussaoui, who pleaded guilty last April to conspiring with al-Qaida to use aircraft to target U.S. buildings, then pulled out what appeared to be a handwritten speech and again berated the judge for ignoring his rights. "Each time you say, 'Mr. Moussaoui keep quiet,' today is my day," Moussaoui said in a rambling speech.
Brinkema, after several minutes, ordered Moussaoui out of the courtroom and said that he will have to watch jury selection from his cell at the courthouse. "God curse you and America," Moussaoui said as he left the courtroom. During earlier court sessions, Moussaoui had also disrupted the proceedings and the judge had ordered him removed. Lawyers will begin individual questioning of jurors on Wednesday, and opening statements are scheduled for March 6. The trial, expected to last one to three months, will determine what sentence Moussaoui receives: death or life in prison. Moussaoui claims he had nothing to do with the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist plot but rather was training to fly a 747 jetliner into the White House later if the U.S. did not release an imprisoned radical Egyptian cleric. But he concealed that from federal agents who arrested him in Minnesota less than four weeks before 9/11. | 
