The American Spectator

p> LAW SCHOOL 101 br> Re: William Tucker’s The War Dance Around Moussaoui : /p> p>If the point of Mr. Tucker’s article is finally reached in the last paragraph, to the effect that artificial, perpetrator-friendly criminal procedures are useless against transnational terrorists, it is absolutely correct. If the point is that Moussaoui should escape execution because his silence was constitutionally protected, it could not be more incorrect. The gravamen of the defendant’s offense was not silence but the full, knowing, willful participation in a conspiracy to murder thousands of people. The prosecution has exhaustively detailed the conspiracy, Moussaoui’s overt acts in furtherance of it, and its lethal purpose and results. As a conspirator he is responsible for all crimes committed in furtherance of the conspiracy, including capital murder. If ever a defendant deserved the ultimate penalty it is Moussaoui. br> — Keith Varni /p> p> The issue here is misprision of felony, described by law dictionaries as: br> /p>

MISPRISION OF FELONY — Whoever, having knowledge of the actual commission of a felony cognizable by a court of the U.S., conceals and does not as soon as possible make known the same to some judge or other person in civil or military authority under the U.S. 18 USC.

Misprision of felony, is the like concealment of felony, without giving any degree of maintenance to the felon for if any aid be given him, the party becomes an accessory after the fact.

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