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Cockpit recording likely out of Moussaoui trial

ALEXANDRIA, Virginia (CNN) -- The cockpit voice recording from United Airlines Flight 93, which crashed in rural Pennsylvania September 11, 2001, will likely not be played at the trial of Zacarias Moussaoui, who is accused of conspiring with the 19 men who commandeered that jet and also flew planes into the World Trade Center and Pentagon.

The recording preserved the airborne struggle between the hijackers and passengers, who prevented the plane from being crashed into a target in Washington, possibly the U.S. Capitol or White House.

U.S. District Judge Leonie Brinkema decided Friday that the recording from Flight 93 would have "marginal evidentiary value" in Moussaoui's trial and agreed with defense lawyers assisting Moussaoui that it would be prejudicial.

"Unless the United States demonstrates a legitimate reason why these recordings are essential to an issue in dispute either in the guilt or penalty phase of this case, these tape recordings should not be admitted at trial," Brinkema wrote in her order.

The attorneys argued in a motion this week that the recording posed "unfair prejudice to the defendant," who is not accused of killing anyone on September 11.

Moussaoui, 34, a French national, was jailed in Minnesota on an immigration violation a month before the attacks. He was reported to authorities after arousing suspicions at a flight school, one of two he attended in the United States last year.

Moussaoui denies any role in the September 11 plot, though he admits belonging to the Islamic terrorist group behind it, al Qaeda, and swearing allegiance to its leader, Osama bin Laden.

Prosecutors allege that in addition to getting pilot training in the United States and paramilitary training in al Qaeda camps in Afghanistan, Moussaoui received thousands of dollars last August from one of the plot organizers in Germany, Ramzi Binalshibh, who was reported to be in custody after his capture in Pakistan.(Full Story)

The Flight 93 tape, played for families of the 40 passengers and crew earlier this year, confirms the uprising that forced the plane down in Shanksville, Pennsylvania, families have said. Passengers who phoned relatives from the plane had learned that the World Trade Center and Pentagon had been attacked and fought back for control of the plane.

A nearby private jet which tracked Flight 93 for a period of time also has a cockpit voice recording prosecutors want to play for the jury.

Previously, the Justice Department sought a protective order to seal the courtroom during the playing of these recordings and to prohibit their distribution and the distribution of the transcripts.

The judge has deferred ruling on that motion, as well as a motion by the Gannett Co., the parent company of USA Today and a number of other newspapers, radio and television stations, seeking public dissemination of the tapes.

No cockpit voice recorders were recovered from American Flight 11 and United Flight 175, which crashed into the World Trade Center, or American Flight 77, which crashed into the Pentagon.

Moussaoui, who is representing himself, faces a possible death sentence stemming from charges including terrorism, hijacking conspiracy and attempting to use weapons of mass destruction. Jury selection is scheduled to begin in December, with opening statements in January.