Military prosecutors are prepared to proceed with the long-delayed trial of accused 9/11 mastermind Khalid Shaikh Mohammed without using a major confession he gave to FBI investigators, choosing not to appeal a judge’s decision excluding the statements in order to preserve the trial date now scheduled for June 2028.

The U.S. government has decided against challenging the recent ruling by a military judge barring Mohammed’s 2007 statements to the FBI from being introduced as evidence at his trial.

“An appeal could jeopardize the hard-earned June 5, 2028, trial date,” federal officials wrote in a Friday letter to families of 9/11 victims, according to sources familiar with the correspondence. The decision came one week before the 25th anniversary of the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, which killed nearly 3,000 people.

Government lawyers were apparently concerned that challenging the ruling could add years to a case already defined by extraordinary delays. Appeals involving similar evidentiary disputes have taken years to move through the courts, prolonging a process that has repeatedly frustrated relatives of those killed in the attacks.

The prosecutions of Mohammed and his alleged co-conspirators Walid bin Attash, Mustafa al-Hawsawi and Ammar al-Baluchi have remained unresolved for decades as lawyers battled over numerous legal issues, particularly whether statements obtained following torture and coercive interrogations could legally be admitted at trial.

Prosecutors had previously agreed not to introduce evidence obtained during torture interrogations of Mohammed and the other defendants at secret CIA detention facilities following their capture in 2003.

They had, however, intended to rely heavily on statements Mohammed subsequently made at Guantánamo Bay, where he has been detained since 2006. Court filings indicated that prosecutors viewed that confession as an important part of the evidence they planned to present to the panel of military officers that will serve as the jury.

Lt. Col. Michael Schrama, the military judge overseeing the case, established the June 5, 2028, trial date last month. Just days later, he issued the ruling preventing prosecutors from using Mohammed’s statements.

The military did not immediately release the ruling publicly, citing a “security review.” Sources familiar with the decision said Schrama determined that Mohammed had endured “severe coercion” during years of CIA interrogation at secret overseas “black site” facilities. The judge also cited the fact that Mohammed had not been provided an opportunity to consult an attorney, according to the sources.

Despite losing the confession, military prosecutors maintain that they possess other evidence connecting Mohammed to the September 11 plot. That evidence reportedly includes telephone records and financial documentation linking him to the Al Qaeda terrorists responsible for hijacking the four aircraft used in the attacks.

The decision to proceed toward trial marks the latest development in a prosecution that has been repeatedly delayed by disputes over interrogation methods, classified evidence, legal procedures and attempts to resolve the cases through plea agreements.

Mohammed had been poised to formally admit his role in planning the September 11 attacks under a plea agreement reached in 2024 with the Biden administration. Mohammed and two other accused Al Qaeda conspirators agreed to plead guilty under an arrangement that would have allowed them to avoid the death penalty.

The agreement triggered an outcry from some relatives of 9/11 victims who opposed taking capital punishment off the table. Biden administration officials subsequently sought to withdraw the plea agreements, setting off additional litigation and further postponing a final resolution of the cases.

With prosecutors now declining to appeal the exclusion of Mohammed’s 2007 confession, the government is seeking to avoid another potentially lengthy detour and keep the case on course for trial on June 5, 2028 — nearly 27 years after the attacks that destroyed the World Trade Center, struck the Pentagon and resulted in the crash of United Airlines Flight 93 in Pennsylvania.

{Matzav.com}