A divided federal appeals court has thrown out an agreement that would've allowed accused Sept. 11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed to plead guilty in a deal sparing him the risk of execution for al-Qaida's 2001 attacks. Friday's decision undoes an attempt to wrap up more than two decades of military prosecution beset by legal and logistical troubles. It suggests no quick end to the long struggle by the U.S. military and successive administrations to bring to justice the man charged with planning one of the deadliest attacks on the United States. Mohammed is accused of developing the plot to crash hijacked airliners into the World Trade Center and the Pentagon. One hijacked plane crashed in Pennsylvania.

A Connecticut man whose parents were kidnapped after he took part in a $245 million Bitcoin theft has pleaded guilty to fraud and money laundering conspiracy charges and has agreed to testify against his co-defendants. That is according to court documents unsealed this week in federal court in Washington. Veer Chetal, from Danbury, is one of three men charged with stealing 4,100 Bitcoins from a victim in Washington. Court documents say that a week after the theft, Chetal's parents were kidnapped briefly in Danbury in a failed ransom plot aimed at Chetal. Seven men were arrested in the kidnapping. Chetal's lawyer declined to comment Friday.

Kilmar Abrego Garcia has pleaded not guilty to human smuggling charges in federal court in Tennessee. Abrego Garcia is a citizen of El Salvador who had been living in Maryland before he was wrongfully deported in March. Abrego Garcia's case has become a rallying point for opposition to President Donald Trump's mass deportation agenda. Abrego Garcia was returned to the U.S. last week but immediately taken into custody on criminal charges. At Friday's hearing, a Department of Homeland Security agent said witnesses saw Abrego Garcia trafficking people, guns or drugs, but his lawyers raised questions about possible conflicts of interest.

Disgraced former U.S. Rep. George Santos has been sentenced to over seven years in prison for the crimes that got him ousted from Congress. He apologized and appealed Friday for mercy, then sobbed as he heard his 87-month sentence. The New York Republican pleaded guilty last summer to federal wire fraud and aggravated identity theft. Santos admitted he deceived donors and stole the identities of nearly a dozen people to fund his congressional campaign. He served less than a year in Congress before being expelled in 2023 after his lies and fraud were uncovered. His lawyers had called for two years behind bars. Santos is due to report to prison July 25.