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Judge: Moussaoui trial at least 2 months away

Moussaoui

By Kevin Bohn
CNN

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- The judge overseeing the case of terrorist conspiracy suspect Zacarias Moussaoui has ruled that his trial will start "more than 70 days" after next Wednesday's arraignment, meaning his trial date is uncertain.

The 33-year-old French citizen of Moroccan descent is accused of conspiring with accused terrorist Osama bin Laden and his al Qaeda network to "murder thousands of people" in New York, Pennsylvania and at the Pentagon -- the sites where four jets crashed after they were hijacked September 11.

VIDEO Aicha El Wafi, mother of indicted terror suspect Zaccarias Moussaoui, says he claims to have proof he wasn't part of the September 11 attacks (December 28) Play video (QuickTime, Real or Windows Media)   MORE STORIES • UK Muslim clerics suspended  • Shoe bomb suspect brainwashed, says dad  • Terror suspect Reid appears in court  • Mother of terror suspect arrives in U.S.

The judge Thursday ordered some preliminary proceedings to go at least through early April. A trial date could be set at next week's arraignment in Alexandria, Virginia.

Moussaoui faces six conspiracy counts stemming from the investigation into the terrorist attacks. Those conspiracy charges include conspiracy to commit murder; to commit acts of terrorism; to commit air piracy; to destroy aircraft; to destroy property; and to use weapons of mass destruction.

On four of the counts, conviction could result in a death penalty.

Moussaoui's mother, Aicha El Wafi, arrived in the United States from France on Thursday to try to see her son and to plead that he be spared the death penalty.

U.S. District Judge Leonie Brinkema has set deadlines of March 1 for Moussaoui's attorneys to submit to the Department of Justice any written discussions on the applicability of the death penalty. She set a March 15 deadline to submit any oral presentation. Any oral argument on the issue would be held April 4, the judge said.

Aicha El Wafi says her son wrote her that he is innocent.

The Eastern District of Virginia -- Brinkema's district, and the federal judicial district handling the case -- has a reputation of processing cases quickly.

Moussaoui was arrested in Minnesota on immigration charges a month before the September 11 attacks after he aroused suspicion by trying to buy time on a jumbo jet flight simulator at a flight school.

El Wafi said she received a letter from her son in October in which he said he was innocent.