A divided U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit on Friday voided a plea agreement that would have allowed alleged September 11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and two co-defendants to plead guilty in exchange for life sentences without parole. In a 2–1 decision, Judges Patricia Millett and Neomi Rao held that former Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin had the legal authority in August 2024 to withdraw the deal before it took effect, writing that “the families and the American public deserve the opportunity to see military commission trials carried out.” Judge Robert Wilkins dissented, saying the government failed to meet the standard for overturning the agreement. The rejected settlement—negotiated over two years by military prosecutors and defense lawyers—covered Mohammed, Walid bin Attash and Mustafa al-Hawsawi, all held at the U.S. naval base in Guantánamo Bay. It would have ended more than two decades of pre-trial wrangling in the high-profile terrorism case and ruled out capital punishment, a provision that had drawn mixed reactions from victims’ families. Friday’s ruling restores the possibility of the death penalty and sends the case back to the military commission system, further extending proceedings that have been dogged by questions over evidence obtained under CIA interrogation and by shifting Pentagon policy. No immediate timetable was set for the next hearings.