# If Khalid Sheikh Mohammed Is Acquitted Will He Be Released? **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [November 16, 2009, 5:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-khalid-sheikh-mohammed-is-acquitted-will-he-be-released/517791 "2009-11-16T17:08:13Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![Bricker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@Bricker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bricker)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2009, 8:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-khalid-sheikh-mohammed-is-acquitted-will-he-be-released/517791/81 "2009-11-16T20:43:32Z")
> [@YogSosoth](#): > > Plus, he’s actually trying them in open court. That’s the difference. If he’s trying them in open court, but planning to keep them locked up regardless of the outcome, it’s not a difference that makes much difference. > [@](#): > > I think KSM has little to no chance of ever getting out, but that is hardly a show trial. In this case, the outcome is pretty much predetermined because of the certainty of KSM’s guilt. Well, then what’s the harm in saying, “If he’s acquitted, he’ll be released.” Since that eventuality will, according to you, never come to pass? ---
**Author:** ![Bricker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@Bricker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bricker)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2009, 8:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-khalid-sheikh-mohammed-is-acquitted-will-he-be-released/517791/82 "2009-11-16T20:45:47Z")
> [@Fuzzy\_Dunlop](#): > > I actually like **Diogenes the Cynic’s** answer. He should have said, look, we have an airtight case. There’s so much evidence that we’ll win at trial, but of course, this is America. If someone is found not guilty they’ll be freed and deported because we respect the rule of law here. Absolutely. “With the absolutely incontrovertible evidence we have against Khalid, the President fully expects the court to render a verdict of guilty. But in the event that does not happen, we will of course be bound by the rule of law.” Perfectly acceptable answer. ---
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2009, 8:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-khalid-sheikh-mohammed-is-acquitted-will-he-be-released/517791/83 "2009-11-16T20:52:20Z")
> [@Ravenman](#): > > My personal hope is that KSM is tried, convicted and executed. I think that should be done for anyone involved in the high-level planning of 9-11. This. Except for the execution part, capital punishment being wrong, always and everywhere. I’m good with solitary confinement for the rest of their natural lives. ---
**Author:** ![ElvisL1ves](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@ElvisL1ves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElvisL1ves)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2009, 8:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-khalid-sheikh-mohammed-is-acquitted-will-he-be-released/517791/84 "2009-11-16T20:55:45Z")
> [@Bricker](#): > > Well, then what’s the harm in saying, “If he’s acquitted, he’ll be released.” Since that eventuality will, according to you, never come to pass? It’s been explained to you already a number of times. Please. > [@Fuzzy Dunlop](#): > > I always thought that it would be under Bush where we reach a point where it was politically expedient for the White House press secretary to not answer what would happen if someone were found not guilty in an American court of law. Under Bush, the use of courts of law wasn’t even a consideration. That question was never going to be asked. I’m not as cynical as it looks, just realistic. There’s simply a lot more value to using one’s energy on real situations than imagined ones. BTW, even if true, it would still be incredibly foolish for the administration to claim in public that they have an airtight case. You can agree with **Dio** to the contrary if you wish, though. ---
**Author:** ![YogSothoth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/8edcca/32.png) [@YogSothoth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/YogSothoth)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2009, 9:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-khalid-sheikh-mohammed-is-acquitted-will-he-be-released/517791/85 "2009-11-16T21:00:15Z")
> [@Bricker](#): > > If he’s trying them in open court, but planning to keep them locked up regardless of the outcome, it’s not a difference that makes much difference. > > Well, then what’s the harm in saying, “If he’s acquitted, he’ll be released.” Since that eventuality will, according to you, never come to pass? I addressed this already. No point in giving the likes of the teabaggers any more fuel for their Obama hatred. If Gibbs had said that, within minutes it would have been a headline on Fox, only instead of “If he’s acquitted”, it would be something insane like “Obama says terrorists could be released” ---
**Author:** ![YamatoTwinkie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/cc9497/32.png) [@YamatoTwinkie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/YamatoTwinkie)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2009, 9:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-khalid-sheikh-mohammed-is-acquitted-will-he-be-released/517791/86 "2009-11-16T21:17:35Z")
I think the question was remarkably similar to the 1988 presidential debate where Dukakis (who was against the death penalty) was asked “Governor, if Kitty Dukakis were raped and murdered, would you favor an irrevocable death penalty for the killer?” Gibbs was merely trying to avoid giving an answer to such a minefield of a question. I don’t think it “proves” anything, but Gibbs’s non-answer was at least marginally better than Dukakis’s response. ---
**Author:** ![whitetho](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/whitetho/32/1059_2.png) [@whitetho](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/whitetho)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2009, 9:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-khalid-sheikh-mohammed-is-acquitted-will-he-be-released/517791/87 "2009-11-16T21:22:50Z")
Pardon me if someone mentioned this and I missed it, but if he were acquitted in U.S. federal court, couldn’t he (hypothetically) also be tried in New York state court, or extradited to a trial in another country or countries? ---
**Author:** ![ElvisL1ves](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@ElvisL1ves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElvisL1ves)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2009, 9:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-khalid-sheikh-mohammed-is-acquitted-will-he-be-released/517791/88 "2009-11-16T21:32:02Z")
There are several nations that could plausibly claim jurisdiction in the Bojinka case alone. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Second\_Stone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/bbe5ce/32.png) [@The\_Second\_Stone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Second_Stone)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2009, 9:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-khalid-sheikh-mohammed-is-acquitted-will-he-be-released/517791/89 "2009-11-16T21:54:27Z")
Objection, speculative. He is held for trial on probable cause and the jury will get to decide his fate. The White House doesn’t make judge or jury decisions, and the question from the press was as insincere as the OP. The federal court sitting in the jurisdiction where the crime was committed is entitled to decide where he is tried and if convicted, what the penalty will be. Why not ask the court the questions, or the prosecutors? Or does the media like gotchas as much as the OP. ---
**Author:** ![Fuzzy\_Dunlop](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/848f3c/32.png) [@Fuzzy\_Dunlop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fuzzy_Dunlop)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2009, 10:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-khalid-sheikh-mohammed-is-acquitted-will-he-be-released/517791/90 "2009-11-16T22:22:33Z")
> [@The\_Second\_Stone](#): > > Objection, speculative. [QUOTE=Tapper] Two questions about developments today. One regarding the Ghailani trial – him being flown to the United States – if any of the detainees who are brought to trial through the U.S. criminal courts, or even through military commissions – **if any of them are found not guilty, will the administration let them free?** [/QUOTE] Can you point out precisely what about that question calls for speculation? Is it the part about what happens when a criminal defendant is acquitted in the American justice system? I’m pretty sure that’s not supposed to be speculative. ---
**Author:** ![CoolHandCox](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/coolhandcox/32/16233_2.png) [@CoolHandCox](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CoolHandCox)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2009, 10:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-khalid-sheikh-mohammed-is-acquitted-will-he-be-released/517791/91 "2009-11-16T22:24:45Z")
When you send someone to face charges in a criminal court, it’s explicitly implied that there are two outcomes and what happens if those outcomes are reached: guilty/not guilty. If not guilty, you’re acquitted. There’s no need to even ask the question to run a headline saying Obama plans to free KSM if found not guilty. You can run that headline as soon as they are sent to be tried in a criminal court. If you go to court, you can be found not guilty, that means you walk (or deported in this case). The fact that you’re not answering an obvious question is telling (of something). Why would someone ask such an obvious question then? Because there has been speculation for years if these detainees are tried as criminals, could they still be held as an enemy until the end of the war. My guess is the Supreme Court will let us know. Personally, it’s a legit question and I’m interested in the answer. Again, he trying them as under crminal law, but he’s not saying he can’t still use military law (law of war) to detain them. It’s classic Obama. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Second\_Stone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/bbe5ce/32.png) [@The\_Second\_Stone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Second_Stone)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2009, 11:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-khalid-sheikh-mohammed-is-acquitted-will-he-be-released/517791/92 "2009-11-16T23:10:52Z")
> [@Fuzzy\_Dunlop](#): > > Can you point out precisely what about that question calls for speculation? Is it the part about what happens when a criminal defendant is acquitted in the American justice system? I’m pretty sure that’s not supposed to be speculative. Sure, you are speculating that he might be acquitted. He might be. And he might be convicted. It might be a hung jury. It might be a mistrial. Of all the possibilities, speculating that he might be freed is the least likely of a dozen possible outcomes. It is not a classic case of speculating what another is thinking, but it is certainly premature in a legal sense and wildly speculative in a practical sense. ---
**Author:** ![Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e99b99/32.png) [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diogenes_the_Cynic)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2009, 11:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-khalid-sheikh-mohammed-is-acquitted-will-he-be-released/517791/93 "2009-11-16T23:11:20Z")
> [@](#): > > Again, he trying them as under crminal law, but he’s not saying he can’t still use military law (law of war) to detain them. It’s classic Obama. Actually, he _has_ said that through Holder. ---
**Author:** ![CoolHandCox](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/coolhandcox/32/16233_2.png) [@CoolHandCox](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CoolHandCox)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2009, 11:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-khalid-sheikh-mohammed-is-acquitted-will-he-be-released/517791/94 "2009-11-16T23:34:51Z")
> [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](#): > > Actually, he _has_ said that through Holder. Can you show me where he said that? I don’t doubt you, I’m just interested in reading about it. I know they are trying some through criminal law courts and some in the military tribunals through law of war, but must have missed that the same person might be switched from EC to criminal, and possibly back to EC. ---
**Author:** ![Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e99b99/32.png) [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diogenes_the_Cynic)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2009, 11:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-khalid-sheikh-mohammed-is-acquitted-will-he-be-released/517791/95 "2009-11-16T23:43:30Z")
I saw it one of Holder’s press conferences. He said something about other jurisdictions being available as backup options, but I don’t have a cite. ---
**Author:** ![Bricker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@Bricker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bricker)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2009, 11:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-khalid-sheikh-mohammed-is-acquitted-will-he-be-released/517791/96 "2009-11-16T23:47:35Z")
> [@Ravenman](#): > > Now, if Obama (or Clinton, Gore, or most Democrats I can think of) were in the Oval Office in 2001, my guess is that they would not have chosen Bush’s policy of “enhanced interrogation techniques” that has perhaps poisoned the well for good evidence to be used against these terrorists. Because Bush prioritized waterboarding, intelligence collection, and indefinite detention over trial and execution, Obama is not simply free to choose how to dispose of these pieces of trash. > > I believe it was Cheney who remarked around the time of the inauguration that Obama would find closing Guantanamo harder than he (Obama) thought it would be. How right he was. Fixing the legal clusterfuck that the Bush Administration created means that Obama now has before him a Chinese menu of bad choices on how to achieve the closure and what to do with the detainees. These bad choices would have been exactly the same for McCain, who also called for the closure of Guantanamo. But… didn’t Obama know before the election that this situation existed? Why did he promise to close it and try the detainees if Bush’s poisoning the well had made it impossible? ---
**Author:** ![Bricker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@Bricker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bricker)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2009, 11:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-khalid-sheikh-mohammed-is-acquitted-will-he-be-released/517791/97 "2009-11-16T23:50:50Z")
> [@The\_Second\_Stone](#): > > Objection, speculative. He is held for trial on probable cause and the jury will get to decide his fate. The White House doesn’t make judge or jury decisions, and the question from the press was as insincere as the OP. The federal court sitting in the jurisdiction where the crime was committed is entitled to decide where he is tried and if convicted, what the penalty will be. Why not ask the court the questions, or the prosecutors? Or does the media like gotchas as much as the OP. No one was asking Gibbs where KSM would be tried, or what the penalty would be if convicted. Those are, as you say, questions correctly left for the juddge, jury, and prosecutors. “If he’s acquitted, will he be released?” is not a question for the judge or jury. It’s for the administration to answer. So far, there are not too many scrupulously honest people in this thread, are there? ---
**Author:** ![Bricker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@Bricker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bricker)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2009, 11:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-khalid-sheikh-mohammed-is-acquitted-will-he-be-released/517791/98 "2009-11-16T23:52:57Z")
> [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](#): > > I saw it one of Holder’s press conferences. He said something about other jurisdictions being available as backup options, but I don’t have a cite. Probably it was the same press conference where they announced that ABC News’ Senior White House Correspondent was not a journalist, but only a blogger. Was that the one, **Diogenes**? ---
**Author:** ![Fuzzy\_Dunlop](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/848f3c/32.png) [@Fuzzy\_Dunlop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fuzzy_Dunlop)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2009, 11:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-khalid-sheikh-mohammed-is-acquitted-will-he-be-released/517791/99 "2009-11-16T23:59:40Z")
> [@The\_Second\_Stone](#): > > Sure, you are speculating that he might be acquitted. He might be. And he might be convicted. It might be a hung jury. It might be a mistrial. Of all the possibilities, speculating that he might be freed is the least likely of a dozen possible outcomes. It is not a classic case of speculating what another is thinking, but it is certainly premature in a legal sense and wildly speculative in a practical sense. There is nothing speculative about whether one of these people might be acquitted. The possibility that the accused may be acquitted of the crimes he is accused of is fundamental and utterly indispensable to justice and the rule of law. I can’t honestly believe I had to just say that to someone who is presumably older than 10. We shouldn’t need to speculate whether there’s a chance someone will be acquitted nor what to do about it if he is. ---
**Author:** ![CoolHandCox](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/coolhandcox/32/16233_2.png) [@CoolHandCox](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CoolHandCox)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2009, 12:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-khalid-sheikh-mohammed-is-acquitted-will-he-be-released/517791/100 "2009-11-17T00:01:17Z")
> [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](#): > > I saw it one of Holder’s press conferences. He said something about other jurisdictions being available as backup options, but I don’t have a cite. That’s fine. That could also mean the more likely and practical reason, too. The State of New York will be an option to try if not guilty (or Virginia or Pennsylvania). It somehow weakens the impact though of the current case, but it’s a perfectly legitimate thing to do and has been done often. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-khalid-sheikh-mohammed-is-acquitted-will-he-be-released/517791.md?page=4) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-khalid-sheikh-mohammed-is-acquitted-will-he-be-released/517791.md?page=6)