America, You Lost

Moussaoui, as he was led from the courtroom after the 15-minute hearing, said: "America, you lost. ... I won." He clapped his hands as he was escorted away.

Have no doubt that he would have said the same thing had the jury decided that Moussaoui would be awaiting the death penalty. Had he received the death penalty, it would be spun as Moussaoui getting what he wanted or people would spin things so that he would be treated as a martyr. Moussaoui was a walking contradiction and spun his statements into knots. Pundits and observers likewise will now spin the outcome furiously (as am I).

Having received life without parole, the spin would be that he will now be a martyr or that he's getting exactly what he deserved.

Either way, he wins. He gummed up the legal system in knots because it simply doesn't do terrorism cases well.

Those that think Moussaoui is a martyr will not change their minds. Those who think he should have been executed for his crimes wont change their minds, and those who think that no one should receive the ultimate judgment, the death penalty, under absolutely no circumstances do not have a problem with this outcome.

The thing is that this jury found that he was eligible for the death penalty. They found his involvment in the 9/11 plot and his failure to act were sufficient to trigger the death penalty had they made that decision. So, the only way that this jury could have decided for life in prison is if someone believed that the death penalty was wrong in all cases. Otherwise, the result today is inconsistent with the earlier decision.

While Confederate Yankee thinks that Moussaoui wouldn't last very long in prison, I think that Moussaoui will in all likelyhood spend the rest of his life in solitary confinement. Just like Sheik Abdul Rahman. In a Supermax.

In Supermax, there isn't the kind of interaction you see in a general population. In Supermax, you are confined to your cell 23 hours a day. No interaction with other prisoners. Period.

That's still too good for Moussaoui, but it will have to do.

And Rusty raises a very good point. If Moussaoui cannot receive the ultimate punishment for his crimes - then who would?

UPDATE:
Hot Air has a wide ranging roundup of opinion. Captain Ed has this to say:

Now, however, he faces a very long time in prison and the gradual oblivion he deserves. Forty years from now, Moussaoui will die in this supermax facility of old age, and newspapers will have to explain to half of their readership exactly who this man was. Human rights groups will have no interest in him, and while a few lunatic terrorists will salute him in the near term, they will quickly move their focus to other martyrs and more intelligent and dangerous leaders. Hollywood celebrities will not hold benefits for his defense. Publishers of childrens' books will not offer him book deals. Candles will not be lit for his benefit. He gets to live in a cage for decades, and die almost anonymously and unremarkably.

Allahpundit further notes that the jury found that the defense proved only two mitigating circumstances - both relating to his rough childhood. From the jury answer, we learn that a broken home sob story is sufficient to raise sufficient doubt about imposing the death penalty on a confessed terrorist who was involved in the worst terrorist attack in world history. Moussaoui is responsible for his own actions, and this jury found a reason to absolve him of that responsibility.

Kim at Wizbang notes the jury responses are baffling:

They thought he was not responsible for the deaths of 3,000 people on 9/11 but was responsible for the physical, emotional, and psychological injuries of the survivors. These answers are schizophrenic. Speaking of which, they didn't think he was mentally ill.

Flopping Aces also weighs in.