Federal Judiciary

Pentagon files charges over 9/11 attacks

By Akin Gump Supreme Court Practice Group

For the first time, the federal government has begun criminal cases against individuals accused of specific roles in the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001.  The Defense Department on Monday announced plans to try six prisoners at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, for alleged roles in those attacks, and said it will seek the death penalty for each of the six if convicted by a military commission.  The Pentagon’s news release announcing the charges can be found here.  The release includes a link at the bottom, to “Military Commissions,” where the 90-page statement detailing the charges can be found. The charge sheet includes the names of all of those killed in the attacks on the World Trade Center in New York City, on the Pentagon in Washington, and in the crashing of a hijacked plane in rural Pennsylvania.

Only one other individual, Zacarias Moussaoui, has been charged with any crime related to the 9/11 assaults. He pleaded guilty to a conspiracy charge; he was not accused of a direct role in the attacks themselves.  He is now serving a life prison sentence; a jury declined to impose a death sentence.

Full post as published by SCOTUSBLOG on February 11, 2008 (boomark / email).