Posted on 06/06/2009 9:11:22 AM PDT by lewisglad
The Obama administration is considering a change in the law for the military commissions at the prison at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, that would clear the way for detainees facing the death penalty to plead guilty without a full trial.
The proposal, in a draft of legislation that would be submitted to Congress, has not been publicly disclosed. It was circulated to officials under restrictions requiring secrecy. People who have read or been briefed on it said it had been presented to Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates by an administration task force on detention.
The proposal would ease what has come to be recognized as the government’s difficult task of prosecuting men who have confessed to terrorism but whose cases present challenges. Much of the evidence against the men accused in the Sept. 11 case, as well as against other detainees, is believed to have come from confessions they gave during intense interrogations at secret C.I.A. prisons.
The draft legislation includes other changes administration officials disclosed last month when President Obama said he would continue the controversial military commission system with changes that would increase detainees’ rights.
The provision would follow a recommendation of military prosecutors to clarify what they view as an oversight in the 2006 law that created the commissions. The law did not make clear if guilty pleas would be permitted in capital cases. Federal civilian courts and courts in most states with capital-punishment laws permit such pleas.
During a December tribunal proceeding in Guantánamo, the five detainees charged with coordinating the Sept. 11 attacks said they wanted to plead guilty. Military prosecutors argued that they should be permitted to do so. Defense lawyers argued that tribunals should follow American military law and bar the guilty pleas. The military judge has not yet made a decision.
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
additional.
Obama Weighs Plan Allowing 9/11 Suspects to Plead Guilty
New York Times | 6/5/09 | WILLIAM GLABERSON
Posted on 06/05/2009 7:35:42 PM PDT by Typical_Whitey
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/2265967/posts
Anybody who thinks this is to enable justice to be done is out of his mind.
This is to remove it from military control and bring the cases into a civilian situation where Eric Holder can control the outcome. Bambi’s best buddy, Bill Ayers, spent no time in jail for his terrorist activities, and his lovely wife Bernardine Dorhn had a relatively tiny sentence for her sprees. Holder was also the one who got Clinton to release the Puerto Rican FALN terrorists who had killed a number of people in the Fraunces Tavern bombing in 1975.
Don’t rejoice yet. This is just a way to release them.
Good analysis.
Excellent point!!!
Actually, to expand on your excellent point, anyone who thinks that anything that is ever done by the occupiers of the WH is for the good of the country is out of their mind.
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