Federal Court suspends Khalid Sheikh Mohammed’s guilty plea hearing

The Biden administration succeeded in blocking a plea deal for Khalid Sheikh Mohammed on Thursday after a federal court issued an administrative stay of a hearing scheduled for Friday.

The alleged 9/11 mastermind was expected to plead guilty as part of a deal reached by military prosecutors that would have removed the death penalty as a possibility in his case.

“The purpose of this administrative stay is to allow the court time to receive complete information on the petition for mandamus, to hear oral arguments in an expedited manner, and to render a decision on the petition and the motion for stay,” states the US court order. of Appeal for the District of Columbia Circuit, said. “The administrative suspension should in no way be construed as a decision on the merits of this petition or motion.”

The order sets deadlines for filing legal documents by Jan. 22, meaning the legal matter will continue into the early days of the Trump administration.

On Tuesday, the Biden administration asked the federal court to suspend the plea deal for Mohammed and two other alleged 9/11 conspirators, which Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin opposed.

The request to suspend the hearing follows a ruling last week by a military appeals court that Austin was not allowed to withdraw the plea deal crafted by military prosecutors.

Under the terms of the plea agreement, Mohammed, Walid Muhammad Salih Mubarak bin Attash and Mustafa Ahmed Adam al Hawsawi would plead guilty to their roles in the September 11 attacks in exchange for having the death penalty waived. In August, Austin withdrew the deal just days after it was made public.

However, the military judge in the case ruled that Austin did not have that authority, a ruling that was upheld last week by the United States Military Commission Court of Review.

Both military courts rejected the Defense Department’s argument that Austin had the right to walk away from the plea deal, in part because Mohammed and the other conspirators began “keeping promises” contained in the plea deal. agreement by signing the stipulations of their guilt before Austin signed his memo. .

In its filings with the Federal Court, the administration argued that this was a misrepresentation of what actually happened.

“The text of the agreements makes clear that the signing of the factual stipulations was part of the process by which the agreements were concluded, and not the fulfillment of a promise under the agreements once they were signed,” the statement said. file from the Department of Justice.

The Justice Department argued that continuing the plea hearings “will deprive the government and the American people of a public trial as to the defendants’ guilt and the possibility of a death penalty” for what the government has called “the most egregious criminal act committed in the United States.” ground in modern history.

The administration’s filing called the Sept. 11 attack “a heinous act of mass murder that resulted in the deaths of thousands and shocked the nation and the world.”

The Military Commissions Act states that only the accused can appeal a commission’s decision to the D.C. Circuit. Nonetheless, the Biden administration is asking the appeals court for extraordinary relief — a directive from civilian judges to the commission recognizing the legitimacy of Austin’s action.

“The text of the agreements makes clear that the signing of the factual stipulations was part of the process by which the agreements were concluded, and not the fulfillment of any promise under the agreements once they were signed,” it may The petition filed by Matthew Olsen, assistant attorney general for national security, and Brian Fletcher, the principal deputy solicitor general, says.