Entries tagged with “Walid bin Attash”

Military

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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.

Arbitrariness

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Sentencing Alternatives

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Oct 04, 2024

A Chance at Life, Withdrawn: When Politics Interferes with Plea Deals

American pros­e­cu­tors have immense pow­er and rel­a­tive­ly unchecked dis­cre­tion in cap­i­tal cas­es. But in sev­er­al recent cas­es, death-sen­tenced pris­on­ers reached agree­ments with pros­e­cu­tors that would have saved them from exe­cu­tion, only to learn that anoth­er offi­cial had inter­fered to block the agree­ment. Critics have argued that these deci­sions sow pub­lic dis­trust in the legal process and raise con­cerns that gov­ern­ment offi­cials may be exploit­ing death penal­ty cas­es for political…

State & Federal Info

Military

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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…

State & Federal Info

Federal Death Penalty

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Military

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Mar 18, 2022

Plea Talks Are Under Way in Guantánamo September 11 Case that Could Take Death Penalty Off the Table

Military pros­e­cu­tors and defense attor­neys are report­ed­ly dis­cussing plea deals that could take the death penal­ty off the table in the Guantánamo mil­i­tary com­mis­sion cas­es of five men accused of involve­ment in the September 11, 2001 ter­ror­ist attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon. The nego­ti­a­tions, first report­ed by the New York Times on March 15, 2022 and sub­se­quent­ly con­firmed by defense coun­sel, would require alleged 9/​11 plan­ner Khalid Shaikh Mohammed and…