The drawn-out pretrial proceedings of Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and four other inmates accused of planning the Sept. 11 attacks resumed on Tuesday after more than 560 days of delay. The hearing, however, only took a few hours to hit yet another speed bump.
The guys were seated with their defense teams, talking amongst themselves, and seemed to be focused on their cases. Mohammed, who has been known for his brightly colored facial hair in recent years, wore a vivid orange beard and heavy black spectacles. Other defendants were dressed in paramilitary garb.
While Mohammed is known for his outbursts in court, it was the judge who became the focal point of the day’s proceedings.
Gary Sowards, one of Mohammed’s attorneys, took note of McCall’s detour to his appointment. Last year, McCall was chosen to preside over the trial, but he withdrew after prosecutors objected to his lack of expertise. He was restored after serving as a military judge for two years, which was the minimal qualification for the war court.
During the interrogation, McCall stayed calm, portraying the issue as legally unclear in his opinion, but agreeing to the withdrawal to avoid further complicating an already difficult case.
“Why bother with an appeal? There are other judges who could be able to handle this case “he stated
However, the prosecution intervened a few seconds later, alerting the bench of a recently issued Military Commission Review on the identical subject under debate. It was ruled that McCall could preside, but that all of his judgments made before gaining two years of experience would be reversed, leaving just the decision on the black site’s demolition in place.
McCall adjourned the court several hours early to give both parties time to recover and reorganize.
However, al-civilian Baluchi’s death penalty counsel, James Connell, needed little time to evaluate the material.
Connell said the defense intends to appeal the ruling, but expressed disappointment at yet another delay in the almost decade-long trial.