ALEXANDRIA, Va. (AP) — The sentencing trial of terrorist conspirator Zacarias Moussaoui opened Monday with the selection of a jury that will determine whether he is put to death for conspiring with al-Qaida terrorist to hijack planes and commit other crimes.

U.S. District Judge Leonie Brinkema seated 18 jurors and alternates after a 90-minute process. One was excused for unspecified personal reasons, meaning the trial will proceed with 12 jurors and five alternates instead of six.

Opening statements were expected Monday afternoon, as was testimony from the first witness.

Moussaoui, a 37-year-old French citizen, has acknowledged his loyalty to the al-Qaida terrorist network and his intent to commit acts of terrorism, but denies any prior knowledge of the Sept. 11 plot.

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His mother, Aicha el-Wafi, spoke up for her son in a CNN interview. "All they can have against him is the things that he said, the words that he has used," she said, "but actual acts that he committed, there aren't any."

But D. Hamilton Peterson of Bethesda, Md., who lost his father Donald and stepmother Jean on hijacked Flight 93, which crashed in Pennsylvania, declared, "I want accountability."

"I would like to have accountability after a fair trial for the world to see," he said. "I believe Moussaoui is an excellent candidate for the death penalty. He is nothing less than a mass murderer."

"Most Muslims and most Christians are God-fearing people who do not believe in slaughtering innocent women and children," Peterson said.

After the jurors were seated and sworn in, one asked to speak to the judge and after a bench conference, she was excused without explanation to the courtroom.

Prosecutors and defense lawyers used peremptory strikes, which allow each side to dismiss jurors for any reason they choose except their race or sex, to whittle the pool down to the final jurors and alternates.

Those selected will not know who is a juror and who is an alternate until late in the trial.

The jury pool already had been qualified to serve during a two-week process in which prospects were quizzed individually by Brinkema and filled out 50-page questionnaires asking their views about the death penalty, al-Qaida, the FBI and their reactions to the Sept. 11 attacks.

Arrangements for the trial have been years in the making. Victims of the terrorist attacks and their families can watch the trial on closed-circuit TV at federal courthouses in Boston, Central Islip, N.Y., Newark, N.J., Philadelphia and in Alexandria, thanks to legislation passed in Congress.

Moussaoui pleaded guilty in April to conspiring with al-Qaida to hijack planes and commit other crimes. The trial will determine Moussaoui's punishment, and only two options are available: death or life in prison.

To obtain the death penalty, prosecutors must first prove a direct link between Moussaoui and the Sept. 11 attacks. Moussaoui denies any connection to 9/11, but says he was training for a possible future attack.

Prosecutors will try to link Moussaoui to 9/11 by arguing that the FBI would have prevented the attacks if only Moussaoui had told the truth to the FBI about his terrorist links when he was arrested in August 2001.

The defense argues that the FBI and other agencies knew more about the hijackers' plans before 9/11 than Moussaoui and still failed to stop the attacks.