State & Federal Info

Military

People serving in the military are subject to a separate system of laws, courts, and procedures — including those regarding capital punishment.

Federal Death Penalty

Federal Death Penalty

Death Penalty Information Center Page: Additional Information on the Federal Death Penalty

Overview

People serv­ing in the mil­i­tary are sub­ject to a sep­a­rate sys­tem of laws, courts, and pro­ce­dures. Defendants retain cer­tain rights guar­an­teed under the con­sti­tu­tion, such as the right to representation.

The mil­i­tary death penal­ty has been used sparse­ly out­side times of war. Only a few indi­vid­u­als are on the mil­i­tary death row, which is based at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas. All were con­vict­ed of mur­der. There have been no exe­cu­tions in the mod­ern era of the death penalty.

The mil­i­tary also has juris­dic­tion over mil­i­tary com­mis­sions, which are tri­bunals con­vened to try peo­ple accused of unlaw­ful con­duct asso­ci­at­ed with war, such as those estab­lished in Guantánamo Bay after the September 11, 2001 attacks. No one has been sen­tenced to death under these commissions.


News & Developments


News

Nov 26, 2024

Article of Interest: 9/​11 Victim’s Daughter Writes Why She Supports Plea Deals for Perpetrators

In a Washington Post op-ed, Chanel Shum, a mem­ber of September 11th Families for Peaceful Tomorrows, explains her sup­port of plea agree­ments that would end decades of legal uncer­tain­ty and sen­tence three of the accused 9/​11 defen­dants to life with­out parole. Ms. Shum was start­ing preschool when her father, See Wong Shum, was killed in the September 11 terrorist…

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News

Nov 13, 2024

Despite Military Judge’s Approval of 9/​11 Plea Deal, Defense Secretary and Prosecutors Continue to Push Back

U.S. mil­i­tary judge Colonel Matthew N. McCall is mov­ing ahead cau­tious­ly with sched­ul­ing the plea hear­ings in the case of Khalid Shaikh Mohammed and his code­fen­dants, accused of plot­ting the September 11 ter­ror attacks. On November 10, 2024, Col. McCall instruct­ed coun­sel to agree on dates in either December 2024 or ear­ly January 2025 to hold plea hear­ings for Mr. Mohammed and his code­fen­dants, Walid bin Attash and Mustafa al-Hawsawi. Lead pros­e­cu­tor Clayton G. Trivett, Jr. had asked Col.

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News

Aug 16, 2024

Articles of Interest: U.S. Senator, Former U.S. Solicitor General and Victim’s Family Member Express Support for 9/​11 Plea Deals

Theodore B. Olson, for­mer U.S. Solicitor General from 2001 to 2004, who lost his wife in the September 11th ter­ror attacks, says he felt relief upon hear­ing the announce­ment that three of the defen­dants entered into an agree­ment to plead guilty in exchange for removal of the death penal­ty as a sen­tenc­ing option. However, Mr. Olson writes that his relief was short-lived when with­in 48 hours of the announce­ment Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin revoked the plea agree­ment. Mr. Olson believes this…

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News

Aug 02, 2024

U.S. Military Reaches Plea Agreement to Avoid the Death Penalty with Three Men Accused of Plotting September 11 Attacks

UPDATE: On August 2nd, Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin revoked the July 31, 2024 plea agree­ment reached between mil­i­tary com­mis­sions pros­e­cu­tors and defense coun­sel for three of the 9/​11 defen­dants being held at Guantanamo. In a two-para­graph memo, Secretary Austin revoked the author­i­ty of Susan Escallier, the head of the Military Commissions Convening Authority, to enter into the plea agree­ments and reserved that author­i­ty for him­self. This unex­pect­ed devel­op­ment negates…

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News

Nov 20, 2023

U.S. Army Overturns the Convictions of 110 Black Soldiers in the 1917 Camp Logan Rebellion to Redress the Unfair Trials that Resulted in the Execution of 19

On November 13, 2023, offi­cials announced that the U.S. Army had over­turned the con­vic­tions of 110 Black sol­diers of the 3rd Battalion, 24th Infantry Regiment, who were charged with mutiny in con­nec­tion with the racial vio­lence that occurred dur­ing the 1917 Camp Logan rebel­lion. Nineteen Black sol­diers were hanged fol­low­ing the court-mar­tial rul­ing on December 11, 1917, which was the largest exe­cu­tion of mil­i­tary sol­diers in his­to­ry. In her state­ment, Secretary of the Army Christine Wormuth…

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