April 11 (Bloomberg) -- A police officer at the Pentagon told jurors in Zacarias Moussaoui's sentencing trial he could hear people inside the building ``moaning, groaning, screaming'' after it was struck by a jetliner on Sept. 11.

Prosecutors seeking Moussaoui's execution showed the jury in Alexandria, Virginia, photos of dead bodies in the damaged Pentagon. An Army colonel who was in an upper floor of the building described a ``curtain of fire'' and the feeling of an earthquake under his feet, saying he found out later that the plane was underneath him.

``To me it didn't seem like a plane,'' said Army Lt. Col. John Thurman, 39. ``To me it seemed like it was a bomb.'' He said he had 26 friends and colleagues among the 125 people in the Pentagon who died that day. Another 64 people died on the plane.

Jurors decided last week that Moussaoui, 37, is eligible for the death penalty, and now they must determine whether he will be executed or sentenced to life in prison. Moussaoui, the only person charged in the U.S. in the Sept. 11 attacks, pleaded guilty in April 2005 to conspiracy charges.

Pentagon police officer Jose Rojas Jr., 43, told the jury that earlier in the day, when he and other Pentagon police officers saw the burning World Trade Center towers in New York on television, ``All of us just said together at one time, `we're next.''' Shortly afterward, the Pentagon was hit.

`Skin Came Off'

Rojas said he heard moaning and screaming from people in the building. When he grabbed a man's hand to pull him out a window, ``his skin came off into my hands,'' he said. ``I had to dig my fingernails into his flesh. I could hear him scream and holler as I pulled him out of the building.''

One photo displayed to the jury taken by a parking-lot camera showed the explosion of the jetliner striking the Pentagon building. The jury saw a computerized diagram of each floor of the Pentagon that showed where each body was found.

Yesterday, U.S. District Judge Leonie Brinkema told prosecutors there is no way to avoid emotion in a case like the Moussaoui trial, though she warned them to be careful in presenting testimony and evidence to the jury.

Moussaoui testified earlier that he knew about the terrorism plot when he was arrested a month before the attacks and lied to FBI agents to let the mission proceed.

`Choking to Death'

Earlier today, Juan Rivero, a former police officer for the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, told the jury he was outside the World Trade Center and thought he was going to die when the first tower fell on Sept. 11.

``I felt like I got thrown about halfway up the block,'' said Rivero, 43, now retired. ``I saw my son's face and I thought I was going to die. I thought I was choking to death'' from the spreading dust.

Moussaoui's defense lawyers late yesterday issued a subpoena for testimony by would-be shoe bomber Richard Reid, who is serving a life prison sentence in Colorado for trying to blow up an American Airlines jetliner in December 2001 with explosives hidden in his sneakers.

Moussaoui testified that Reid was supposed to be a member of his flight crew in a plot to hijack a jetliner and fly it into the White House as part of the Sept. 11 attacks. His lawyers, who are defending him over his objections, have told the jury that Moussaoui's only involvement in Sept. 11 ``was in his dreams.''

Open Minds

Defense lawyers say they will call doctors to testify that Moussaoui is a paranoid schizophrenic. Moussaoui's lawyers are asking jurors to keep their minds open to a life prison sentence instead of death.

Jurors this week are to hear the voice cockpit recording of United Airlines flight 93, which crashed in a field near Shanksville, Pennsylvania, after being seized by terrorists.

U.S. District Judge Leonie Brinkema decided the tape won't be released with the other trial exhibits after some victims' relatives objected. Instead, a transcript of the recording will be made public.

Prosecutor David Novak said his side plans to finish presenting testimony tomorrow.

The case is U.S. vs. Moussaoui, 01cr455, U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia (Alexandria).

To contact the reporters on this story: Bill Arthur in Washington at barthur@bloomberg.net; Nadine Elsibai in Washington at nelsibai@bloomberg.net

Last Updated: April 11, 2006 14:56 EDT