Al-Qaeda plotter Zacarias Moussaoui came from a broken home where his mother was repeatedly beaten, a US court in Virginia has been told.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/4915722.stm

FFs release him immediately ..that explains it all .......

Poor thing. Release him? Surely he should be given a few million and a relocation package to help the wee lad as well? Infact, I would be willing to help him "Relocate". Permanently.

My heart bleeds.

I think if he was to be taken on an outward bound adventure holiday that he would see the error of his ways

"At the start of her testimony, Ms Vogelsang said that she was not trying to excuse Moussaoui's actions, but rather to help explain why he did what he did."

Release him? He's already been convicted, this part is just to decide if he gets life or death.

Their argument on the matyrdom factor was much better.

Translated as:

"At the start of her testimony, Ms Vogelsang said that she was not trying to excuse Moussaoui's actions, but rather to get a sympathy vote from the jury in order to sway them away from the death penalty."

Do you not believe he should have a defence?

So she seems to be doing her job. DO you have any problem with that?

Defence against what? He did it thats been decided. Now it's all about mind games with the jury

No. Just putting it into context. No need to shout.

Just the defense doing its job.

I too came from a broken home but I never even spanked my kids, let alone participated in the deaths of thousands.......

Fry the bastard or, better still, set fire to him and drop him off a tall building.

I'm sure that sharing death row with some of America's most accomplished killers/rapists will be a similarly enlightening experiance for him.

I'm sure he'd love to be executed; it's probably better to lock him up like a dog.