U.S. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin holds a press conference at the Pentagon in Washington, D.C. on July 25, 2024.
Saul Robb | AFP | getty images
A U.S. military court on Monday upheld a judge’s ruling that Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin acted improperly this year when he voided plea agreements for three men accused of planning the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.
Military Commission Review Court resolves plea deals with Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, Walid Muhammad Salih Mubarak Bin ‘Attash and Mustafa Ahmed Adam al Hawsawi In August, an appeal seeking to preserve Austin’s motion was heard. Under this agreement, a defendant can plead guilty to a lesser charge that would not warrant the death penalty.
The three-judge panel concluded that Austin did not have the authority to revoke the agreement, which was implemented last year by Susan Escallier, the authority who convened the defense secretary-appointed military committee that worked to negotiate the agreement.
The court found that the Secretary of Defense improperly canceled the deal after a pretrial settlement had already been reached.
Chief Judge Lisa M. Schenck wrote in an opinion concurred by two other justices that Austin’s intervention in an existing pretrial settlement was “unprecedented.”
The Department of Defense had no comment on the ruling Tuesday.
The ruling confirms a lower court ruling last month that the three defendants should be allowed to proceed with their plea deals. All three were charged with aiding, abetting and conspiring to commit the 9/11 attacks on the World Trade Center and other locations.
The decision states that attorneys notified the court of the plea deal on Aug. 1. The next day, Austin revoked Escallier’s authority to make such an agreement.
“I take responsibility for these decisions,” Austin said at the time.
The court said it was unjust and outside the scope of his authority for Austin to retroactively break up those deals. He said the presence of a convening authority (in this case an escalier) to negotiate a plea deal and a superior to resolve it is not supported under military justice.
