Sept. 11 Judge Delays Retirement, Positioning him to Decide Case-Turning Issues

Col. Matthew N. McCall. The New York Times
Col. Matthew N. McCall. The New York Times
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Sept. 11 Judge Delays Retirement, Positioning him to Decide Case-Turning Issues

Col. Matthew N. McCall. The New York Times
Col. Matthew N. McCall. The New York Times

By Carol Rosenberg

The judge in the Sept. 11 case has announced that he will stay on the bench through 2024, providing continuity as pretrial litigation wraps up crucial issues. Col. Matthew N. McCall, the fourth military officer to preside in the long-running case, had initially planned to retire from the Air Force next month.

Why It Matters: Continuity at a key time.

Colonel McCall has been on the case since August 2021. He has displayed a deep understanding of both the obstacles to a trial and the record his three predecessors built after arraignment in 2012.

He was initially expected to retire in April, a timetable that would have left it to a fifth judge to make key decisions — after absorbing hundreds of pages of filings and exhibits and more than 42,000 pages of public and classified transcripts. Now, Colonel McCall can proceed with witness testimony in open and closed sessions and legal arguments for at least 19 more weeks in 2024.

What Happens Next: Hearings and, probably, rulings.

The timetable positions Colonel McCall to wrap up witness testimony and decide whether prosecutors can use confessions made in 2007 by Khalid Shaikh Mohammed, who is accused of masterminding the Sept. 11 plot, and three co-defendants, at the eventual trial. The men spent years in detention in CIA prisons, where they were tortured. Then so-called clean teams at Guantánamo Bay questioned them without threats or violence in their fourth year in US custody.

Two other key issues are reaching decision points. One is whether restrictions imposed on defense lawyers prevent the defendants from getting a fair trial. In 2018, the first judge threw out the 2007 confessions for that reason. His successors have been revisiting that question ever since.

The other issue is whether what was done to the Sept. 11 defendants in their first years in US custody constitutes “outrageous government conduct.” Lawyers for one defendant, Mustafa al-Hawsawi, have presented their argument to the judge, who has yet to rule. The delay could give the other three defense teams time to do the same.

What We Don’t Know: The fate of pretrial litigation.

Colonel McCall could order a range of remedies if he rules against the government on those three crossroads questions. He could exclude the 2007 clean-team statements, which an Army judge did last year in Guantánamo’s other capital case, forcing a higher court appeal. He could reduce the maximum possible sentence for a conviction to life in prison, instead of death; or he could dismiss the case.

The New York Times



Russian Strike Hits Ukrainian Prison, Killing at Least 17 

A Ukrainian service member walks on a street protected with anti-drone nets, amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, in the frontline town Orikhiv in Zaporizhzhia region, Ukraine July 23, 2025. (Reuters) 
A Ukrainian service member walks on a street protected with anti-drone nets, amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, in the frontline town Orikhiv in Zaporizhzhia region, Ukraine July 23, 2025. (Reuters) 
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Russian Strike Hits Ukrainian Prison, Killing at Least 17 

A Ukrainian service member walks on a street protected with anti-drone nets, amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, in the frontline town Orikhiv in Zaporizhzhia region, Ukraine July 23, 2025. (Reuters) 
A Ukrainian service member walks on a street protected with anti-drone nets, amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, in the frontline town Orikhiv in Zaporizhzhia region, Ukraine July 23, 2025. (Reuters) 

A Russian airstrike on a prison in Ukraine’s southeastern Zaporizhzhia region killed at least 17 inmates and wounded more than 80 others, Ukrainian officials said Tuesday.

In the Dnipro region, authorities reported at least four people killed and eight injured.

Ukraine’s Air Force said that Russia launched two Iskander-M ballistic missiles along with 37 Shahed-type strike drones and decoy UAVs. They say 32 Shahed drones were intercepted or neutralized by Ukrainian air defenses.

The attack late Monday hit the Bilenkivska Correctional Colony with four guided aerial bombs, according to the State Criminal Executive Service of Ukraine.

At least 42 inmates were hospitalized with serious injuries, while another 40 people, including one staff member, sustained various injuries.

The strike destroyed the prison’s dining hall, damaged administrative and quarantine buildings, but the perimeter fence held and no escapes were reported, authorities said.

Ukrainian officials condemned the attack, saying that targeting civilian infrastructure, such as prisons, is a war crime under international conventions.

In Dnipro, missiles hit the city of Kamianske, partially destroying a three-story building and damaging nearby medical facilities including a maternity hospital and a city hospital ward. Two people were killed and five were wounded, including a pregnant woman who is now in a serious condition, according to regional head Serhii Lysak.

Further Russian attacks hit communities in Synelnykivskyi district with FPV drones and aerial bombs, killing at least one person and injuring two others.

According to Lysak, Russian forces also targeted the community of Velykomykhailivska, killing a 75-year-old woman and injuring a 68-year-old man.