Krauthammer on Moussaoui and the Death Penalty

He writes:

Had I been on the jury, I, too, would have voted for life in the Colorado Supermax. But not for the reasons most of the jury cited.

In the Moussaoui case, there were three plausible grounds for mitigation: insignificance, lunacy or deprivation. Insignificance would have been my choice.

He criticizes the "childhood deprivation" ground.  He doesn't mention one prudential argument (to which the judge adverted in imposing the jury's sentence): avoiding giving Moussaoui his wish to be a martyr whose fate would inspire other terrorists. Admittedly, that seems not a legally recognized reason for jurors to vote life, but a policy argument for prosecutors not to have sought death in the first place.

Tom