Let Mohammed and pals plead guilty
If alleged 9/11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and other al-Qaida operatives plead guilty to their crimes, the country can be spared long and possibly messy trials.
Unfortunately, pleading guilty apparently creates other legal complications in a capital case.
The Miami Herald says one issue is "whether the 2006 act of Congress that created the war court allows accused terrorists charged in a capital case to submit guilty pleas, without a jury of at least 12 U.S. military officers present to hear them and the evidence."
Can you execute a defendant who doesn't defend himself in court?
Well, the 9/11 victims, except those of United Flight 93, didn't have a chance to defend themselves.
Mohammed, a 1986 N.C. A&T engineering grad, should get no sympathy if he is sentenced to death. But spending the rest of his life in the darkest, loneliest corner of a federal prison would be appropriate punishment, too. He doesn't deserve martyrdom.
The death penalty, with all its complications, would keep the case alive too long. Let Mohammed and his pals plead guilty, and then drop them into a dungeon somewhere.
Case closed.
Comments (2)
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Rememeber also,Doug. Martyrdom= 72 virgins.
Life in Prison= A perpetual Bubba and Manny sandwich who probably wouldn't qualify.
Posted on December 9, 2008 3:08 PM
Exactly. But, because he might grow fond of Bubba and Manny, I'd keep him in solitary.
Posted on December 9, 2008 3:29 PM