Detainee 9/11 guilty pleas are pondered

The Obama administration is considering seeking a change in the special U.S. military trials for terrorism suspects being held at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, to allow those who face the death penalty to plead guilty without getting a full trial, the New York Times reported Friday.

The military commissions effectively have been frozen since January while the administration weighed its options. Human rights groups have said the commissions, created by President George W. Bush, were fundamentally unfair to defendants.

The Times said the changes being explored would aim to resolve an ambiguity in the 2006 law governing the military commissions. The newspaper said the proposal to allow a guilty plea in a death penalty case was contained in a draft of legislation that would be submitted to Congress for consideration. Current law does not make clear whether guilty pleas are permitted in death penalty cases in military commissions.

The only death penalty case currently before a military commission is the one involving five detainees charged as the planners of the Sept. 11 attacks, including the self-proclaimed mastermind, Khalid Shaikh Mohammed.

The newspaper said the proposal would simplify the government’s task of prosecuting men who have confessed to acts of terrorism but whose legal cases present challenges. For example, evidence may include confessions given following interrogation methods that some critics consider torture.