The fate of Zacarias Moussaoui rests with a jury after prosecutors said last night he should be executed because his lies led to nearly 3,000 deaths in the September 11th attacks.
Zacarias Moussaoui
The jury began deliberations in the trial late in the day after closing arguments. After about 90 minutes, they went home and will return today.
Both sides said Mr Moussaoui was a liar during closing statements in the death penalty trial for the only person charged in the United States in the September 11th hijacking plot.
Mr Moussaoui (37) pleaded guilty last year to all six conspiracy counts against him - three of which carry the death penalty.
"Zacarias Moussaoui came to this country to kill as many Americans as he could," federal prosecutor David Raskin told the jury.
Mr Raskin said Mr Moussaoui, who was in jail on September 11th, killed people that day by lying and concealing plans for the plot. "They would be alive today if he had told the truth and that is why he is eligible for the death penalty," he said.
Mr Moussaoui provided sensational testimony in the trial, admitting he lied to the FBI and declaring he was meant to fly a plane into the White House on September 11th - something he previously denied.
But Edward MacMahon, one of the court-appointed defence lawyers, said the French citizen of Moroccan descent had also lied when he said he was supposed to pilot a fifth plane.
"He is now trying to write a role for himself in history while the truth is he is an al-Qaeda hanger-on and a nuisance," Mr MacMahon said. "It's all a plethora of lies, one built on top of another to aggrandise himself."