Appeals Court Rejects 9/11 Plotter’s Life Sentence Deal, Citing Defense Secretary’s Authority

A federal appeals court on Friday turned down a plea agreement that would have permitted Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, the suspected mastermind of the Sept. 11 attacks, to evade the death penalty in return for life imprisonment. 

A significant shift has occurred with the 2-1 ruling from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, impacting the protracted military trial of Mohammed and two co-defendants currently detained at Guantanamo Bay.

A plea deal that had been under negotiation for more than two years received support from military prosecutors and was sanctioned by the Pentagon's overseer of Guantanamo. The ruling would have imposed life sentences without the possibility of parole on the men and mandated their responses to outstanding inquiries from the families of the victims. 

Ultimately, then-Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin dismissed the agreement, emphasizing that the determination regarding the death penalty in such a significant case should be made by the defense secretary rather than being left to subordinates to negotiate.

The attorneys for the defendants contended that the agreement had been legally concluded and that Austin's involvement was untimely. The decision from the lower military courts was unanimous. The appellate panel, featuring Judges Patricia Millett and Neomi Rao, reached a different conclusion, determining that Austin had exercised his authority appropriately by stopping the deal. They emphasized that “families and the American public deserve the opportunity to see military commission trials carried out.”

Obama's appointee, Judge Robert Wilkins, expressed strong dissent, condemning the ruling as lacking a legal foundation.

The ruling plunges the prominent case back into ambiguity following more than two decades of postponements, legal disputes, and scrutiny regarding the Guantanamo military commission framework. Mohammed faces allegations of masterminding the 2001 attacks that resulted in the deaths of nearly 3,000 individuals and transformed global security measures. 

The voiding of the plea deal sets the stage for a much-anticipated trial, which may once more bring the death penalty into consideration.