Entries tagged with “Lloyd Austin”

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A Chance at Life, Withdrawn: When Politics Interferes with Plea Deals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

Policy Issues

Victims' Families

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Military

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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…