9/11 families call for death penalty after plea deal for alleged attackers ended

ST. GEORGE, Staten Island (PIX11) -- After a group of men accused of playing key roles in planning and carrying out the 9/11 attacks had a plea deal involving them dropped, some victims' family members are now calling for the case against them to go to trial quickly, and for the men to face the death penalty.

Rep. Nicole Malliotakis invited some 9/11 family members to join her at the Staten Island Sept. 11 Memorial to say how they feel about the case going forward. They were also joined by leaders of the unions for different first responders who lost their lives in the attacks, as well as from World Trade Center-related illnesses in the years since 9/11.

Family members said that they want accused 9/11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and at least two other alleged attackers to go before a judge in federal court in Lower Manhattan, as they'd been scheduled to do since 2018.

"I want to see these people," said Melissa Pullis, whose husband, Eddie Pullis, was killed in the attack. "I want to see their faces in the courtroom," she continued. "That's what I want. I want them to see us."

Pullis was among the participants in the midday Monday event, in which there were repeated calls for the following steps to happen swiftly against the defendants. Thomas Smith, a firefighter, lost his father in the terror attacks and said that he has 9/11-related health issues himself.

"The suffering continues," he said, "and there has to be some kind of justice and the truth about what happened to this country 23 years ago."

It was the first major news conference about the 9/11 case since the attackers' plea agreement was scrapped last Friday.

In the plea deal, the accused 9/11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Muhammed and two alleged accomplices being held at Guantanamo agreed to plead guilty in exchange for not getting the death penalty and not being put into solitary confinement during a lifelong prison sentence.

Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin struck that down.

"We want them to set a date, go to trial, and seek the death penalty," Malliotakis said.

Leaders of various unions, including those representing the FDNY, Port Authority Police, NYPD, and EMS, said they represent tens of thousands of family members.

"Our nation owes it to each and every surviving family member to seek the maximum penalty for their crimes," said Frank Conti, the president of the Port Authority Police Police Benevolent Association.

Beth Murphy, a 9/11 widow, agreed and drove home the point.

"I won't back down," she said from the podium.

She and other 9/11 family members said that they needed to publicly call for the trial to continue to get justice for their loved ones.

Amanda Alioto, whose father, Thomas Alioto, was killed in the terror attacks, held up his photo at the event. Afterward, she said that publicly calling for a death penalty trial was simply something that she had to do. 

"The only possible outcome for the soulless savages that they were is the death penalty," she said.