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

Apr 17, 2025

Guantanamo Judge Rules Government Cannot Use Confession Obtained Through Torture in 9/​11 Capital Case

On April 11, 2025, Judge Colonel Matthew McCall ruled that con­fes­sions elicit­ed from Ammar al-Baluchi, accused of con­spir­ing in the September 11th ter­ror­ism attacks, were the result of tor­ture car­ried out by the CIA and as a result can­not be used against Mr. al-Baluchi in any legal pro­ceed­ing. According to Col. McCall, Mr. al-Baluchi invol­un­tar­i­ly incrim­i­nat­ed him­self in 2007 after exten­sive​“psy­cho­log­i­cal con­di­tion­ing” through tor­ture and abuse during his…

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News

Jan 06, 2025

Military Appeals Court Rules 9/​11 Defendants Can Plead to Avoid Death Sentences

On December 30, 2024, a mil­i­tary appeals court upheld a low­er court rul­ing reject­ing Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin’s attempt to throw out plea deals reached for three men charged in the September 11 ter­ror­ism attacks. The court affirmed Judge Colonel Matthew N. McCall’s rul­ing in November 2024 that the plea agree­ments reached in July 2024 are valid. Col. McCall stat­ed at the time that he would pro­ceed with the…

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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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