A US military judge on Wednesday set a summer 2028 trail date for Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and three others accused of plotting the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.
The 2028 trial depends on the case meeting deadlines and milestones along the way and it could again be delayed. A trial was previously scheduled in 2021 but later canceled.
The additional time is needed to resolve pretrial disputes, including disagreements about what evidence can be presented at trial, Air Force Lt. Col. Michael A. Schrama wrote in his ruling. Mohammed is accused of developing and directing the plot to crash hijacked airliners into the World Trade Center and the Pentagon. Another of the hijacked planes flew into a field in Pennsylvania. He faces trial alongside three alleged accomplices: Walid bin Attash, Ali Abdul Aziz Ali and Mustafa al-Hawsawi.
The trial is scheduled to begin June 5, 2028, 18 months later than the January 2027 start that prosecutors had requested. The 2028 trial depends on the case meeting deadlines and milestones along the way and it could again be delayed. A trial was previously scheduled in 2021 but later canceled. A federal appeals court last year threw out an agreement that would have allowed Mohammed to plead guilty in a deal sparing him the risk of execution for al-Qaida’s 2001 attacks.
