The Department of Defense’s appeals court ruled against Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin’s effort to revoke plea deals for 9/11 terrorists.
According to a panel of judges on the U.S. Court of Military Commission Review, Austin had no authority to “withdraw” the plea deal.
“[W]e agree with the military judge that the Secretary did not have authority to revoke respondents’ existing PTAs [pretrial agreement] because the respondents had started performance of the PTAs,” the ruling says.
On July 31, the Pentagon announced that plea agreements were reached with Khalid Shaikh Mohammad, Walid Muhammad Salih Mubarak Bin ‘Attash, and Mustafa Ahmed Adam al Hawsawi.
Military prosecutors sent a letter to families of 9/11 victims saying, “In exchange for the removal of the death penalty as a possible punishment, these three Accused have agreed to plead guilty to all of the charged offenses, including the murder of the 2,976 people listed in the charge sheet.”
Austin then moved to revoke the plea deals.
“I have determined that, in light of the significance of the decision to enter into pre-trial agreements with the accused in the above-referenced case, responsibility for such a decision should rest with me as the superior convening authority under the Military Commissions Act of 2009,” he wrote in a memorandum to Susan Escallier, the U.S. official behind the plea deal. “Effective immediately, I hereby withdraw your authority in the above-referenced case to enter into a pre-trial agreement and reserve such authority to myself.
“Effective immediately, in the exercise of my authority, I hereby withdraw from the three pretrial agreements that you signed on July 31, 2024.”
A military judge ruled in November that Austin could not withdraw from the agreements. The Pentagon appealed the ruling, leading to the new decision.
