September 11th conspirator Zacarias Moussaoui this evening told a jury deliberating the death penalty that he had been badly represented by his court-appointed lawyers.
Mr Moussaoui (37) who pleaded guilty to six counts of conspiracy in connection with the September 11th attacks, testified for the second time in the sentencing trial, even though his lawyers had not wanted him to take the stand.
Mr Moussaoui has refused to co-operate with those lawyers and was asked by one of them if he though his attorneys were in a conspiracy to kill him.
"I believe that you have in the last four years been dealing with criminal non-assistance of defense counsel," he said. One of his major complaints was that he was never given a Muslim attorney.
Mr Moussaoui said in court last month that he was supposed to fly a fifth plane into the White House as part of the al Qaeda hijacking plot.
His testimony during the first phase of his trial contradicted his previous claims that he was not meant to be part of the Sept. 11 hijacking, but was supposed to be in a second wave of attacks.
Many observers thought his testimony basically made the case for the prosecution that he was involved in the deaths of 3,000 people.
Mr Moussaoui said today his earlier comments had made little difference.
"Even without my testimony, taking into account the emotion of the case, there was definitely a chance I would be found eligible for death," he said.
His lawyers are trying to persuade the jury not to give Mr Moussaoui a death sentence by showing that he is a mentally unstable person who had delusions of importance in al Qaeda.