He wants to get a look at the man who has become the public face of terrorism and listen to the government's case against him. But his emotions are still so raw that he has worked out a plan with his therapist to help gauge his feelings. In some ways, he is more afraid of not going to the Alexandria, Va., courthouse, of staying away, and then being filled with regret for the rest of his life.

Nearly 4 1/2 years after the terrorist attacks on New York and Washington, families of the victims and those who survived the attacks will finally get their day of reckoning. Today, amid extraordinary security, admitted al-Qaida operative Zacarias Moussaoui will be taken from his solitary cell in the Alexandria jail to the U.S. District Court a few blocks away.

Over the next month, 18 jurors whose identities will not be revealed will be chosen to decide first whether Moussaoui is eligible for the death penalty. If they agree he is, the government will argue he should be put to death rather than spend the rest of his life in prison. In each case, the jury would have to reach a unanimous verdict.

It will be the first time the Bush administration lays out in a public courtroom how America's enemies conspired to hijack four jetliners and left nearly 3,000 people dead. Moussaoui, 37, pleaded guilty in April to conspiring to fly a plane into the White House as part of a broader conspiracy that led to the Sept. 11 terror attacks. He is the only person convicted or charged in the United States in connection with attacks on the World Trade Center and Pentagon.

Yancey is one of about 1,100 family members who have told the Justice Department they plan to watch the proceedings.