A plea deal that would have meant life in prison for accused 9/11 architect Khalid Sheikh Mohammed was tossed out by a federal appeals court Friday.
In a 2-1 decision, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit ruled that former Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin “indisputably” acted within his authority when he nixed the deal last August.
“Having properly assumed the convening authority, the Secretary determined that the ‘families and the American public 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,” wrote Judges Patricia Millett and Neomi Rao, appointees of former President Barack Obama and President Donald Trump, respectively.
Friday’s ruling is the latest in a back-and-forth saga over Mohammed’s prosecution that has stretched more than 20 years.
The plea agreement had first been reached last summer. In it, Mohammed would have been sentenced to 2,976 years in prison, representing the number of 9/11 victims. The deal had been struck, a senior law enforcement official close to the situation told the Daily Beast, due to concerns from the defense and victims’ families that it might not be legally feasible for the Osama bin Laden confidante to get the death penalty amid claims he was tortured while in custody.
Days later, Austin revoked it, claiming that he alone had the authority to decide the matter.
Last November, the deal was back on after Air Force Col. Matthew McCall, a Guantanamo Bay judge, agreed with the defense that the deal was already valid when Austin intervened. A military appeals panel had the same opinion.
The dissenting voice in Friday’s decision, Obama appointee Judge Robert Wilkins, wrote, “The government has not come within a country mile of proving clearly and indisputably that the Military Judge erred.”
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