Chip Minemyer: For 9/11 family members, justice for murders long delayed, still uncertain

Sep. 12—SHANKSVILLE, Pa. — As the relative of a person who was killed in the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, Patrick White said he would "volunteer to be the one pushing the plunger" if al-Qaida suspects someday face execution by lethal injection.

But as an attorney, White said he knows the situation surrounding five accused men being held at Guantanamo Bay Detention Camp in Cuba is complex, both legally and ethically.

White's cousin, Louis J. "Joey" Nacke, died when United Flight 93 crashed in Somerset County 22 years ago during a day of terror that claimed nearly 3,000 innocent lives in New York City, at the Pentagon and near Shanksville.

Last month, surviving family members of the 9/11 victims were informed that attorneys for suspected mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and four others were seeking a plea agreement that would spare the five men the death penalty.

The other four defendants are Ramzi Binalshibh, Mustafa Ahmed al-Hawsawi, Walid bin Attash and Ammar al-Baluchi, national media reports show.

Gordon Felt, brother of 9/11 victim Edward Felt, interviewed on Monday at the Flight 93 National Memorial, said he was not interested in the suspects receiving plea deals — or anything short of death by lethal injection.

"My goal is that they would have a fair trial, that they are convicted, and then that they are executed," Felt said just before the 22nd anniversary ceremony near the Wall of Names honoring the 40 passengers and crew of Flight 93.

"I am a citizen whose brother was brutally murdered that morning," Felt said.

The attacks involved hijacked airliners that were flown into the two towers of the World Trade Center in New York, and the Pentagon near Washington, D.C. A fourth jet, presumably targeting the U.S. Capitol, went down near Shanksville after the passengers and crew learned of the fate of the other three planes and fought back.

The 9/11 Commission, which investigated the attacks, concluded that Mohammed "presented the idea of such an attack on the United States to al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden" and "received authorization from bin Laden to craft what became the 9/11 attacks," according to Associated Press reports.

The other four allegedly performed supporting duties in the terror plot.

The captives reportedly confessed while facing torture as prisoners of the CIA at Guantanamo.

That's one potential legal sticking point. The AP has reported that Muhammad was water- boarded 300 times.

"The evidence is compelling," White said. "The question is whether or not it's admissible."

The case has never gone to trial, and no trial date has ever been set — despite more than a decade of pretrial hearings and court filings, the AP has reported.

Other questions include whether the men could be tried outside the United States, or whether the current situation — a military tribunal rather than a public courtroom — is more fair or just, for the accused or the families of those who died.

Another hearing is set for Sept. 18 for the five, who were "captured at various times and places in 2002 and 2003 and sent to Guantanamo for trial in 2006," the AP reported.

President Joe Biden has not supported the proposed terms of a plea deal, which include moving the suspects out of solitary confinement and giving them some religious considerations, a White House National Security Council official told the AP last week.

White said the suspects confessing "under duress" likely constitutes "coerced testimony."

While he would raise his hand to participate in an execution, White said the suspects at Guantanamo are enduring a harsh form of justice — living in small cells at Guantanamo.

"Under the circumstances, they're already facing more punishment than they would by making martyrs out of them," he said, "because — I can tell you — they're not living at a Hilton."

Ken Nacke, White's cousin and the brother of Flight 93 passenger Joey Nacke, is a retired Baltimore County police detective.

He chose not to share his thoughts Monday about a potential plea agreement, saying only, "I understand the process," and "I've made my peace with it."

Felt said he has visited the Gitmo prison and has met with the defense attorneys.

"I said, 'This is real. Your clients murdered all those people — including my brother.' "

Felt said he realizes some fellow 9/11 family members may be opposed to capital punishment — even in this horrific and sensational case involving their own loved ones.

"It's not unreasonable for people to say that there should be life sentences," he said. "But for people who deserve a more permanent solution for their crimes, I don't have that on my mind."

Felt expressed frustration that his brother has been gone for more than two decades, but the legal process drags on and on.

"What blows my mind is, here we are on the 22nd anniversary, and the trial hasn't even started — even though there's no doubt in anyone's mind that they're guilty," Felt said, pledging to keep voicing his opposition to a plea deal.

"We're not going anywhere," he said. "I'm going to keep kicking the door."

Chip Minemyer is the publisher of The Tribune-Democrat and The Times-News of Cumberland, Md. He can be reached at 814-532-5111. Follow him on Twitter @MinemyerChip.