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Judge rules Moussaoui can represent self

Moussaoui: "It is not possible for me to trust my life to somebody else."

ALEXANDRIA, Virginia (CNN) -- Zacarias Moussaoui, the first man charged in connection with the September 11 attacks, is mentally competent and can represent himself, a federal judge ruled Thursday -- even though she advised him against doing so.

Moussaoui, 34, the alleged would-be 20th hijacker, asserted his innocence in court and told the judge he understood the consequences of his actions but said he wanted to fire his defense team.

"It is not possible for me to trust my life to somebody else," said Moussaoui, although he added he would work with an as yet unnamed Muslim lawyer who according to Moussaoui had offered his services for free.

U.S. District Judge Leonie Brinkema's ruling dramatically alters Moussaoui's scheduled September trial

His defense team -- now relegated to standby status -- predicted Moussaoui's decision would turn the trial into an unfair "circus."

The lawyers suggested Moussaoui's conduct throughout the hearing -- in which he talked of "secret" information that would exonerate him and called on the judge to release him immediately -- highlighted questions about his mental stability.

"If you try to figure out the significance of anything he said, you're wasting your time," said attorney Frank Dunham outside court.

More psychiatric exams urged

CNN NewsPass VIDEO Zacarias Moussaoui can represent himself on conspiracy charges in the September 11 attacks, a U.S. judge rules. CNN's Deborah Feyerick reports (June 13) Play video   RESOURCES • Defendant's motion for relief   • U.S. government opposition to Moussaoui motion for relief  • Memo re: Special administrative measures for Moussaoui  • Indictment: U.S. v. Moussaoui   (FindLaw documents, PDF format    CNN.COM SPECIAL REPORT  CNN NewsPass Video  Agencies reportedly got hijack tips in 1998  MORE STORIES Intelligence intercept led to Buffalo suspects Report cites warnings before 9/11  EXTRA INFORMATION Timeline: Who Knew What and When? Interactive: Terror Investigation Terror Warnings System Most wanted terrorists What looks suspicious? In-Depth: America Remembers In-Depth: Terror on Tape In-Depth: How prepared is your city?  RESOURCES On the Scene: Barbara Starr: Al Qaeda hunt expands? On the Scene: Peter Bergen: Getting al Qaeda to talk

During the 90-minute hearing, Dunham and his team urged Brinkema to order more psychiatric exams for Moussaoui, saying the court could not rule out that he was having "delusions and fantasies."

Dunham said in his 100 or so hours of seeing Moussaoui in more than 50 visits, he found the defendant moody and erratic, frequently changing his demands.

Dunham said the court-appointed psychiatrist who met with Moussaoui for only two hours ignored a history of mental health problems in Moussaoui's family, "in particular among his siblings."

Dunham wanted the judge to hear testimony from one of the two psychologists the defense hired, but she declined.

Prosecutor Edward Spencer said there was no reason "to belabor this any longer" because there was "ample evidence" that Moussaoui was competent.

Brinkema agreed.

She said she was satisfied with a mental examination by Dr. Raymond Patterson, who concluded that Moussaoui is "rational," and she said no further tests were needed.

She noted that Moussaoui's jailers had reported the inmate kept a neat cell and had good hygiene -- which are not signs of mental illness.

She suggested some of the problems Moussaoui, a French national of Moroccan decent, had with his lawyers could be attributed to cultural differences.

'I will never see the light'

Before her ruling, Brinkema reminded Moussaoui that four of the six conspiracy counts against him were death-penalty eligible. If convicted, she said, the best Moussaoui could hope for is life in prison without parole.

"I will never see the light again. I understand this," said Moussaoui, 34, a French national of Moroccan decent who spoke in English without the aid of an interpreter.

Moussaoui said during his detention in New York last fall that he had met one of the men convicted in the 1998 bombings of two U.S. embassies in Africa, now serving a life sentence at the U.S. maximum security prison in Florence, Colorado.

"He explained to me you are alone all the time," Moussaoui said.

Brinkema also told Moussaoui one disadvantage to representing himself is that he would not be able to review some evidence because it is classified or national security sensitive.

On Wednesday, for example, Brinkema decided Moussaoui would not be able to see documents on aviation security that are part of the case.

She said that Moussaoui's court-appointed team of four lawyers would serve as standby counsel until the new lawyer Moussaoui mentioned, or another substitute, appeared.

Moussaoui first told the court seven weeks ago that he did not trust his defense team, saying the lawyers part of a U.S. government conspiracy to bring about his swift execution.

"My credibility has been undermined by these people saying I am crazy," Moussaoui said of his attorneys.

The defense team asked to be completely excused from the case. "If he doesn't have a mental problem now, he will," Dunham said, if the lawyers stayed on.

Moussaoui seeks jury trial

Moussaoui's mother, Aicha el-Wafi, who lives in France, appeared in court with a lawyer she had hoped her son would agree to hire.

But Moussaoui has refused to meet with Randy Hamud, a Muslim attorney from California who has represented some post-September 11 detainees, and told the court he would not work with him.

"As a mother, she is trying her best to help her son," Moussaoui said. "I would prefer to have my own choice."

It was the first time Mrs. el-Wafi had seen her son since his incarceration. "A mother's duty is never done," she said through a translator.

Throughout the hearing, Moussaoui tried to offer points he said support his innocence.

"This case is not as it seems at the moment," he said. Several times he repeated his onetime home address in London, where he lived starting in 1992, saying that was a clue.

Moussaoui said he had exculpatory physical evidence in his possession during his arrest last August in Minnesota. He asked for "an emergency motion to be free today." He did not get one.

Moussaoui claimed the United States had engaged in a "covert operation" against him and the 19 hijackers implicated in the September 11 attacks, and had him under surveillance since his arrival in the United States in 2001.

Prosecutors charge that Moussaoui, jailed in Minnesota on an immigration violation a month before the September 11 attacks, intended to be the 20th hijacker in the plot that killed about 3,000 people when planes were crashed into the World Trade Center, the Pentagon and a field in western Pennsylvania.

"I am not a link to the hijackers," he said.

The indictment charges Moussaoui underwent flight training in the United States and weapons training at al Qaeda camps in Afghanistan, like many of the 19 hijackers, and that he received money from the same conspirator in Germany.

Moussaoui is charged with six conspiracy counts related to terrorism, aircraft piracy, destruction of an aircraft, using weapons of mass destruction, property destruction, and the murder of U.S. employees.

Reversing his position from his last court hearing, Moussaoui said he would like a jury to decide his case.

The next scheduled court hearing is July 11.