D.C. Circuit Definitively Rejects KSM Plea Deals; Death Penalty Case Proceeds

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit declined on January 7, 2026 to reconsider its 2025 ruling invalidating the plea agreements for Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and two co-defendants. The plea deals — under which KSM would have pleaded guilty in exchange for life imprisonment rather than the death penalty — were struck down after Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin revoked the agreement in 2023. With the plea deals definitively dead and a Supreme Court cert petition pending, the case must now proceed as a full capital military commission. Pretrial hearings resumed in May 2026 at Guantanamo Bay, now the longest-pending war crimes prosecution in U.S. history at over 17 years.