RICHMOND, VA. ? Unexpectedly allowed back in court, confessed al-Qaida conspirator Zacarias Moussaoui kept quiet Wednesday as two Muslims from South Asia and a Marine Corps lawyer whose boss’ Pentagon office blew up on 9-11 cleared preliminary hurdles to sit on his sentencing jury.

U.S. District Judge Leonie Brinkema had barred Moussaoui from jury selection Tuesday because he wouldn’t promise to stop giving insult-laden speeches.

Brinkema did not explain her change of mind in court, but she had said the day before that she might reconsider if Moussaoui decided to alter his behavior. Even Moussaoui’s court-appointed defense lawyers did not know why she changed her mind.

Fifteen of the 24 prospective jurors interviewed Wednesday were qualified for service. Identified only by number, they were ordered to return March 6 when lawyers will exercise peremptory – or unexplained – strikes to whittle the pool to 12 jurors and six alternates. More potential jurors will be selected between now and March 6.

The jury will decide whether the 37-year-old Frenchman of Moroccan descent, who pleaded guilty last April to conspiring with al-Qaida to fly planes into U.S. buildings, is executed or imprisoned for life.