A MARTÍNEZ, HOST:
Should the alleged mastermind of the 9/11 terror attacks, Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, be allowed to get a plea deal? That question goes before a federal appeals court today. NPR's Sacha Pfeiffer will be there, listening to lawyers from both sides make their case. She's also been asking 9/11 victim family members what they think.
SACHA PFEIFFER, BYLINE: Brett Eagleson of Connecticut and Terry Rockefeller of Massachusetts each had a loved one die in the World Trade Center collapse. Eagleson lost his father, John. Rockefeller lost her only sibling - her sister, Laura. Both want to punish the men responsible, but they disagree on how to do that. Here's Brett Eagleson.
BRETT EAGLESON: We want a trial. We want to put these individuals on a stand. We want the public to see everything that these individuals have to say.
PFEIFFER: So he was disgusted when the U.S. military court at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, announced that Khalid Sheikh Mohammed would plead guilty and spend life in prison rather than face a death penalty trial. Two alleged accomplices also agreed to plea deals. The exact terms are sealed. And Eagleson wants to know, for example, if the men would be allowed to eat and pray together, as they now do at Guantanamo.
EAGLESON: They're prisoners that are pleading guilty to the mass murder of 3,000 Americans. I think that they should get absolutely nothing that they want.
PFEIFFER: He also believes secrets could come out at trial, like details about financing the attacks. And he's not satisfied by government assurances that as part of the plea deals, the prisoners would be required to answer questions by 9/11 family members.
EAGLESON: I think the idea that we're going to gain more information is a bunch of BS. They're trained liars. They're going to lie.
PFEIFFER: But Eagleson realizes the 9/11 case may never go to trial. That's partly because the defendants were tortured, which has compromised evidence like confessions. So he says he would support plea deals if the U.S. government makes public all the material it's gathered in the case - even classified material.
EAGLESON: So I think one of the conditions of a plea deal would be to share the evidence with us, so we know the history, and it's not swept under a rug.
PFEIFFER: Otherwise, Eagleson says he wants a trial. But Terry Rockefeller, whose sister died on 9/11, believes continuing to push for a trial is futile. She was at Guantanamo this month when Khalid Sheikh Mohammed's attorney said his client is ready to plead guilty.
TERRY ROCKEFELLER: And it was so tantalizingly close to actually having the confession.
PFEIFFER: But it didn't happen. A federal appeals court halted the guilty pleas. That's because former U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin tried to reverse the plea deals last summer. Whether or not he can do that will be argued in federal court today. To Terry Rockefeller, it's more futility.
ROCKEFELLER: Sisyphus pushing the boulder up a hill, just getting so close and then having to take so many steps backwards again. And it was very painful.
PFEIFFER: She worries if the 9/11 case keeps getting delayed, the defendants will die in prison legally innocent. So she thinks plea deals are the only way to resolve the case - something the military court has been unable to do.
ROCKEFELLER: I thought it would put an end to the totally failed military commission system.
PFEIFFER: And Terry Rockefeller and Brett Eagleson both say it appalls them that the U.S. government has allowed the 9/11 case to drag on for more than two decades.
ROCKEFELLER: This is not a legal criminal trial. This is a political trial down here.
PFEIFFER: Sacha Pfeiffer, NPR News. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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