A trial date in 2028

A military judge set June 5, 2028 for Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and three co-defendants. That is nearly 27 years after the attacks, and the date is still only tentative.

Families fear no verdict

Twenty-five years after nearly 3,000 people were killed, relatives are facing a possibility they never expected: they may not live to see the case decided.

An open sore

John Ryan, former Port Authority Police chief of department, spent nine months on the recovery at Ground Zero. He says every anniversary reopens the same wound.

“It's like an open sore, and that sore gets even more hurtful when we get to anniversaries.”

Four men, no trial

Mohammed and three others have been held for years without facing trial. A fifth defendant, Ramzi bin al-Shibh, was found mentally incompetent and is handled separately.

The confession thrown out

A judge barred prosecutors from using statements Mohammed made to FBI agents in 2007, ruling they were tainted by his coercive treatment in U.S. custody.

Why no appeal

The government decided not to challenge the ruling, saying an appeal could put the June 2028 trial date at risk. The judge already pushed the start 18 months past the prosecution's request.

Five judges since 2012

The defendants were arraigned in 2012. The current judge is the fifth to oversee the case, and a mountain of pretrial motions is still unresolved.

A twilight zone

Sean Passananti lost his father on the 100th floor of the North Tower. He has attended the memorial every year but one, and the case no longer feels connected to the crime.

“It feels really like a twilight zone and unbelievable that we have to fight for justice for the worst terrorist attack that ever happened on our soil.”

Salt in the wound

Dennis McGinley's older brother Danny worked on the 89th floor of the South Tower. He wants President Trump to close what he calls an American embarrassment.

“It is like the wound never healed, and every year we get salt poured back into that wound.”

Black sites and waterboarding

Mohammed was captured in Pakistan in 2003 and held at CIA black sites, where he was repeatedly waterboarded. He was moved to Guantánamo in 2006.

The clean team problem

Defense lawyers say nothing said after torture can count as voluntary. Prosecutors argue later FBI interviews were separate. That fight has shadowed the case for years.

The plea deal that died

In 2024 the defendants agreed to plead guilty for life sentences instead of the death penalty. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin withdrew the deals, and an appeals court later blocked the pleas.

Two generations waiting

Children who lost parents are now adults, and older relatives fear they will die first. Guantánamo has cost taxpayers hundreds of millions and produced no 9/11 verdict.

“Our justice system isn't designed to work that late.”