"A contentious push to wrap up the 9/11 prosecutions takes an emotional toll on victims’ families"
By Jennifer Peltz
JAN. 9, 2025
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Before the court put the plea deals on hold, Elizabeth Miller drove 5 1/2 hours in a looming winter storm to catch a military flight to Guantanamo in hopes of seeing Mohammed’s plea in person.
After several previous journeys to the arid, isolated military base to see him and other aging defendants sit through one pretrial hearing after another, she came to expect dysfunction and disappointment from the military commission. But she was excited to make the trip this time — and then crestfallen when the plea deals were halted.
“I really, truly believe this is the only way this will ever end,” Miller said by phone from Guantanamo. She was 6 when the 9/11 attacks killed her firefighter father, Douglas Miller.
She now leads a group of 9/11 families who support the plea deal and oppose any death penalty for the accused, and she noted that evidence would be presented during the sentencing phase.