Plea Deals for Accused 9/11 Plotters Are Valid, Judge Rules

A military judge ruled on Wednesday that plea agreements in the Sept.11 case were valid, reviving the possibility that the man accused of planning the attacks, Khalid Shaikh Mohammed, and two accused accomplices could eventually be sentenced to life in prison instead of death.Col.

Matthew N.McCall, the judge, ruled that Defense Secretary Lloyd J.

Austin III acted too late and beyond the scope of his authority when he rescinded the three separate pretrial agreements on Aug.2, two days after a senior Pentagon appointee signed them.Colonel McCall said he would move forward with having Mr.

Mohammed and two other defendants, Walid bin Attash and Mustafa al-Hawsawi, appear before his court to enter their pleas, separately.But he set no timetable, perhaps to give prosecutors time to decide whether to appeal.The decision was the latest to inject uncertainty into the long-running case at Guantánamo Bay against Mr.

Mohammed and four others who were charged in 2012 with conspiring in the attacks that killed nearly 3,000 people on Sept.11, 2001.Prosecutors disclosed the deal with three of the defendants this summer.

They said it was meant to bring some “finality and justice” to the case, which had been mired in litigation over the C.I.A.’s torture of the defendants and other issues.Prosecutors and the office of the secretary of defense had no immediate comment on whether the government would appeal.Rear Adm.

Aaron C.Rugh, the chief prosecutor for military commissions, said his team was “discussing next steps.”We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.

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