As a practical matter, it is the end of the death penalty

Since Zacarias Moussaoui will never be executed, it must be seen as the end of the death penalty in the United States.

He might join an elite club of convicted murderers like Siran Siran, David Berkowitz, and Winston Moseley, who because their victims were so high profile, a ''life sentence'' might actually be what they serve.

He might obtain a measure of justice as John Geoghan, former Catholic priest did -- killed by another inmate in August 2003.

I went back and forth on the death penalty until I settled on the pro-death penalty side - that laws, jury verdicts, and the imposition of the death penalty - are consistent with the teaching of Jesus Christ and the Catholic Church.

To the usual arguments I add that the persons those convicted to a ''life'' sentence are a terrible risk to other inmates and prison guards since there is no restraint on their behavior, no penalty left for the state to impose.

The arguments will ring hollow now -- every jury from now until the Final Judgment will recall that the person complicit in the murder of 3,000 was not executed. So how can a jury impose the death penalty for the death of merely one?