Appeals court throws out plea deal for alleged mastermind of Sept. 11 attacks

WASHINGTON AP A divided federal appeals court on Friday threw out an agreement that would have allowed accused Sept mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed to plead guilty in a deal sparing him the danger of execution for al-Qaida s attacks The decision by a panel of the federal appeals court in Washington D C undoes an attempt to wrap up more than two decades of military prosecution beset by legal and logistical troubles It signals there will be no quick end to the long struggle by the U S military and successive administrations to bring to justice the man charged with planning one of the deadliest attacks ever on the United States The deal negotiated over two years and approved by military prosecutors and the Pentagon s senior official for Guantanamo Bay Cuba a year ago stipulated life sentences without parole for Mohammed and two co-defendants Mohammed is accused of growing and directing the plot to crash hijacked airliners into the World Contract Center and the Pentagon Another of the hijacked planes flew into a field in Pennsylvania The men also would have been obligated to answer any lingering questions that families of the sufferers have about the attacks But then-Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin repudiated the deal saying a decision on the death penalty in an attack as grave as Sept should only be made by the defense secretary Attorneys for the defendants had argued that the agreement was already legally in effect and that Austin who served under President Joe Biden acted too late to try to throw it out A military judge at Guantanamo and a military appeals panel agreed with the defense lawyers But by a - vote the U S Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit exposed Austin acted within his authority and faulted the military judge s ruling The panel had previously put the agreement on hold while it considered the appeal first filed by the Biden administration and then continued under President Donald Trump Having properly assumed the convening authority the Secretary determined that the families and the American masses deserve the opportunity to see military commission trials carried out The Secretary acted within the bounds of his legal authority and we decline to second-guess his judgment Judges Patricia Millett and Neomi Rao wrote Millett was an appointee of President Barack Obama while Rao was appointed by Trump In a dissent Judge Robert Wilkins an Obama appointee wrote The regime has not come within a country mile of proving clearly and indisputably that the Military Judge erred Follow the AP s coverage of the Sept attacks at https apnews com hub september- -attacks Source