When negotiating a plea agreement with the government, how often do you hear -- this isn't an actual offer... I need to get approval from my supervisor.
I wonder if that happened in the 9/11 cases where the three defendants were offered life only to find out later that the Defense Secretary decided to withdraw the offers. Via the NY Times:
Defense Secretary Lloyd J. Austin III on Friday overruled the overseer of the war court at Guantánamo Bay and revoked a plea agreement reached earlier this week with the accused mastermind of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks and two alleged accomplices.
The Pentagon announced the decision with a memorandum relieving the senior Defense Department official responsible for military commissions of her oversight of the capital case against Khalid Shaikh Mohammed and his alleged accomplices for the attacks that killed nearly 3,000 people in New York City, at the Pentagon and in a Pennsylvania field.
The overseer, retired Brig. Gen. Susan K. Escallier, signed a pretrial agreement on Wednesday with Mr. Mohammed, Walid bin Attash and Mustafa al-Hawsawi that exchanged guilty pleas for sentences of at most life in prison.
In taking away the authority, Mr. Austin assumed direct oversight of the case and canceled the agreement, effectively reinstating it as a death-penalty case. He left Ms. Escallier in the role of oversight of Guantánamo’s other cases.
Because of the stakes involved, the “responsibility for such a decision should rest with me,” Mr. Austin said in an order released Friday night by the Pentagon.
“Effective immediately, in the exercise of my authority, I hereby withdraw from the three pretrial agreements that you signed on July 31, 2024.”
I also wonder whether the defendants had told the government that it accepted. If so, I'm sure you'll see a motion to enforce the deal.
4 comments:
I am sure there are e mails going back and forth and even if not, more than a she said/he said evidentiary record. Standing alone this will be enough to enforce the agreement. The problem for the defense, and assuming they are bound by the rule of military tribunals, there is a rule somewhere that all plea offers are subject to final review and approval by the Sec Def and they will be charged with constructive knowledge. Still, a grave injustice for the victims' families. Seems mind boggling that the approval was not sought from the president before they even offered such a plea.
@1:51 - Given the president's mental state, I doubt anyone is conferring with him about anything.
So the WH and DoD both announced the deal without chain of command approval?
You clearly know nothing about his mental state.
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