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Alleged Friend of Zacarias Moussaoui Will Be in Court Today

Aired July 22, 2002 - 11:06   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: I want to now go to New York City, where a friend, or an alleged friend of Zacarias Moussaoui will be in court today.

Our Deborah Feyerick has been following this, and brings us with more on that.

Debbie, good morning.

DEBORAH FEYERICK, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hello, Daryn.

Well, 24-year-old Zutain Alata (ph) is in a courtroom right now. He just pleaded guilty to seven counts of making false statements. Alata told the judge that he lied to FBI agents about knowing Zacarias Moussaoui's real name, and that he also lied when he told the FBI agents he had never talked about jihad with Maoussaoui, jihad being a holy war against America.

The soft-spoken man -- he's about 5' tall, dark hair, a short beard, told the judge that last summer in Norman, Oklahoma, he met man, a name who told him his real name was Shaquille. The man actually turned out to be Zacarias Moussaoui. Alata (ph) gave Maoussaoui a ride to Minnesota, to a flight school there, where Maoussaoui was learning to fly a large plane. Alata said that on several occasions Maoussaoui talked about his desire to part in the jihad.

The two men also talked about going to New York, Colorado and Los Angeles. When Alata was arrested after September 11th, he said he'd lied to FBI agents, giving them the false impression that they were never going to go to New York, or Colorado or Los Angeles, and also that the two men had not talked about jihad.

Now this plea deal is part of the deal that's been made with the government. The details of that are not yet clear, so we don't know whether he will be asked to testify, perhaps even against Zacarias Moussaoui, if that does go to trial. This does come several days after Zacarias Moussaoui told the judge that he wanted to plead guilty -- Daryn.

KAGAN: And do we know what kind of prison sentence he might face now?

FEYERICK: No, we don't. What it looks like is that each count of making a false statement carries with it about five years. So that would be a total of 35 years all together, if in fact, the judge goes on the higher end of plea deal. So that's what we're looking at right now. There would also be a fine, something like a quarter of million dollars.

It does appear, we're just getting word now, is that it looks like the agreement is anywhere from zero to six months. And I'm looking at this. He would be in custody for 10 months, or he has been in custody for 10 months at the Manhattan Detention Center here. So he's undergone a lot of questioning. Again, we're not exactly clear what prompted this plea deal.

KAGAN: Deborah Feyerick in New York City.

Deb, thanks for bringing us up to date on that.

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