Giuliani testifies in 9-11 terrorist case

ALEXANDRIA, Va. -- Former New York Mayor Rudolph Giuliani described the opening horrors of Sept. 11, 2001, to Zacarias Moussaoui's death penalty trial Thursday, saying he was unwilling to believe people were jumping to their deaths from the World Trade Center until he saw it with his own eyes.\nHe said the image of two people jumping together, appearing to hold hands, sticks with him every day. Moussaoui affected a look of boredom when the prosecution played video of victims falling to their deaths.\nJurors watched intently; some family members in the courtroom hung their heads with reddened eyes during the testimony.\nThe jury was riveted when the prosecution summoned the first of the family members and friends of the victims to testify.\nNew York City police officer James Smith described the loss of his wife, Moira, who was also on the force. He showed a photo of her helping an injured man out of the stricken south tower; she died after she went back in.\n"Moira was a gung-ho police officer, took chances, made a lot of arrests, until Patricia was born," he said, displaying family photos showing their daughter born in 1999. "She went from street narcotics to community policing. She decided that she wanted to be a mother even more than a police officer."\nRetired firefighter Anthony Sanseviro described how a colleague died after he was hit by a falling body from one of the towers: "It was like a missile coming in."\nGiuliani took the stand after prosecutor Rob Spencer braced jurors for the painful testimony they were going to hear over the next few weeks. His testimony opened the final phase of the drawn-out trial that will determine whether Moussaoui is executed or sent to prison for life.\nGiuliani said that when he arrived at the scene, his deputy told him how bad the situation was and that people were jumping from the high floors of the towers. "I concluded or hoped he was wrong," he said.\nBut then he saw people falling and "I froze. I realized in that couple of seconds, it switched my thinking and emotions. I said, 'We're in uncharted territory.'"\nExtra marshals were on hand when Giuliani walked past Moussaoui and took the stand.\nSpencer argued that the voices of the victims of the attacks and their anguished families should be all the jury needs to hear to decide whether Moussaoui, an acknowledged al-Qaida terrorist, should die for his crimes.\nSpencer described one call from a woman on the 83rd floor of the second tower to fall. "The floor is completely engulfed," she said. "We're on the floor and we can't breathe ... I don't see any more air ... I'm going to die, aren't I?"\nMoussaoui, 37, is the only person charged in this country in the Sept. 11 attacks. Monday, the jury concluded that Moussaoui was directly responsible for at least one death on that day and is therefore eligible for execution.\nHis trial is to hear the cockpit voice recordings from United Flight 93, which crashed into a western Pennsylvania field on Sept. 11, after passengers fought back against the hijackers. The tape has never been heard publicly.\nAssociated Press Writer Michael J. Sniffen contributed to this report.