The lawyer who represented Theodore Kaczynski, more commonly known as the “Unabomber,” will be leading the defense of the man who is accused of masterminding the 9/11 terrorist attacks.
Gary Sowards, 69, has taken over Khalid Shaikh Mohammed’s defense from David Nevin, 70, who has lead Mohammed’s defense since 2008, according to the New York Times. The trial is set to start on Jan. 11, 2021.
Nevin said Mohammed did not ask for his lead counsel to change, but since he is based in Idaho, it is hard to direct the legal team.
Mohammed, 54, along with four other men, is accused of directing, training, or helping with travel and finances for the 19 hijackers who flew planes into the Wold Trade Center and the Pentagon. A fourth was headed for Washington, D.C., but crashed in Pennsylvania.
With almost 3,000 people killed in the attacks, all five are facing the death penalty.
From 1978 to 1996, Kaczynski, 77, mailed or dropped off homemade bombs to seemingly random targets. During his attacks, three Americans were killed and 24 were wounded. The FBI tracked Kaczynski down and arrested him at a remote cabin in Montana. Since pleading guilty in 1998, he has been in an isolated cell at a supermax prison in Colorado.
