The Sept. 11 case has remained one of the longest-running and most closely watched terrorism prosecutions in the United States. That timeline stretched further this week when a military judge set a June 5, 2028, trial date for Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and other accused plotters at Guantanamo Bay. The ruling came nearly 23 years after Mohammed’s 2003 arraignment-era detention in U.S. custody and almost 25 years after the 2001 attacks.
Judge sets a June 2028 start after prosecutors sought an earlier trial
A military judge ruled on Aug. 26, 2026, that the trial of Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and co-defendants in the Sept. 11 case will begin on Monday, June 5, 2028, according to the Associated Press and the Office of Military Commissions. The new schedule pushed the case 18 months beyond the January 2027 start date prosecutors had requested. The case has centered on Mohammed, Walid bin Attash and Ammar al Baluchi, with the prosecution continuing before a military commission at Guantanamo Bay.
The scale of the charges remains central to the case. Prosecutors have accused the defendants in connection with the murder of 2,976 people in the Sept. 11 attacks, a figure repeated in court proceedings and prior plea discussions. AP reported that the ruling followed years of litigation over whether the case could realistically be ready for trial sooner, given the large volume of classified evidence, witness issues and unresolved pretrial motions.
The June 2028 trial setting also arrived after a failed plea-deal effort that had briefly appeared to redirect the case. In July 2024, Mohammed and two co-defendants reached agreements with military prosecutors that would have had them plead guilty in exchange for life sentences instead of potential death penalties, according to AP. Then-Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin later revoked those agreements, and a federal appeals court subsequently ruled that he had authority to do so, putting the prosecution back on the trial track.
The case is being heard at the U.S. naval base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, not in a state criminal court or federal courthouse. That means there is no single state or city carrying the direct courthouse impact that would exist in a conventional domestic trial. What is confirmed is that the proceedings remain within the military commissions system overseen by the Defense Department, with hearings, filings and scheduling handled through that structure.
The broader public effect has instead been national, especially for families of those killed in New York, at the Pentagon in Arlington, Virginia, and near Shanksville, Pennsylvania. Court reporting from AP and ABC News has shown that some relatives favored a plea agreement to end the case, while others opposed removing the death penalty and wanted a full trial. No comprehensive public accounting shows a single unified position among victims’ families, and the government has not presented one.
What is also not yet known is whether the June 2028 schedule will hold without further delay. The military commissions docket has continued to generate new motions and classified filings into August 2026, according to the Office of Military Commissions. That ongoing activity reflects a case still managing procedural disputes years before jurors would be seated.
The main reason this prosecution has moved so slowly is the continuing fight over evidence tied to the CIA’s former black-site detention program. AP and ABC News have reported that pretrial litigation has been delayed for years by disputes over whether statements and evidence obtained after torture or coercive interrogation can be used. Mohammed was captured in 2003 and later transferred to Guantanamo in 2006, after time in CIA custody, making those issues central to nearly every stage of the case.
A second source of delay came from the plea-agreement battle that unfolded in 2024 and 2025. After military prosecutors negotiated guilty pleas that would have removed the death penalty, Austin revoked the agreements, and further litigation followed in both the commission system and federal appellate courts, according to AP. That legal fight consumed months that otherwise might have gone toward trial preparation.
The structure of the military commissions system has also contributed to the pace. The Office of Military Commissions continues to post rulings, scheduling orders and motions involving classified evidence, defense resources and trial-conduct disputes, showing how many foundational questions remain unresolved before opening statements can begin. For the public, the practical takeaway is that the case now has a formal trial date, but the record shows that major legal and procedural issues have repeatedly moved the timeline and could continue to shape what happens before June 2028.