9/11 terrorists could escape the death penalty after an appeals panel upheld plea deals

A military appeals panel on Monday upheld a judge's decision declaring the plea agreements in the Sept. 11 case valid. The decision allows, at least for now, a plea hearing to be held next week for the main defendant, Khalid Shaikh Mohammed, who has been pointed to as the mastermind of the attack.

With the plea, the 9/11 terrorists could be spared the death penalty.

"Col. Matthew N. McCall, the judge in the case, had ruled that Defense Secretary Lloyd J. Austin III acted too late and beyond the scope of his authority when he rescinded the three deals on Aug. 2, two days after a senior Pentagon appointee had signed them," reported The New York Times, which reported the court decision.

The Department of Defense (DOD) announced in August that it reached an agreement with three defendants accused of organizing and participating in the 9/11 attacks to plead guilty in exchange for dodging the death penalty. Instead, the detainees will serve life in prison. The deal generated widespread unease among victims and family members.

Two days after announcing the deal, Lloyd Austin revoked the agreements. At the time, Austin said, "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 the statement.

However, the appellate panel believes the secretary does not have the authority to terminate the agreements.

“We agree with the military judge that the secretary did not have authority to revoke respondents’ existing PTAs because the respondents had started performance of the PTAs,” the three-judge panel wrote in a 21-page decision released Monday night.