"I'm conflicted": Bucks County mother reacts to possible plea deal for 9/11 defendants
BUCKS COUNTY, Pa. (CBS) -- A woman reacted to news a possible plea deal may remove the death penalty for some accused of planning the terrorist attacks that killed thousands on U.S. soil on Sept.11, 2001.
"He had a wonderful smile," said Judi Reiss as she sat across her living room from a family portrait. "When he smiled, everyone smiled."
On September 10, 2001, her son Joshua called from New York City to wish his mother and father good night in his hometown of Bucks County.
"His last words for me were, 'You know I love you guys.' And, I said, 'Josh, you know we love you.' He said, 'Of course I know that. Talk to you tomorrow.' And tomorrow never came," Reiss said.
The 23-year-old was working in the World Trade Center, where he died after two planes hit the Twin Towers the next day. Since then, the Reiss family and thousands of others followed the trials of people accused of helping plan those attacks. The Pentagon recently told those families a possible plea deal could take the death penalty off the table for those defendants.
Reiss said she is conflicted.
"My feeling is that, frankly I don't care if they ever breathe air again. It's a waste of my air and our resources, but I don't want to make martyrs out of them either."
She said if the defendants ever become convicts, she wanted none of their supporters to have any reason to celebrate.
"My personal belief is if they would just pass away and their remains are in the ocean where no one could build a shrine to them, we're better off," Reiss said.
Instead, she focused on her work with The Garden of Reflection, the memorial to 18 Bucks County residents that died in the attacks, including her own son.
"I had a choice to make. I could stay angry, or I could do something to better my community, and that's kind of what I try to do."
Reiss and her husband Gary said they planned to be in the courtroom for the possible sentencing of at least one of the defendants. She said she hopes that happens this winter.
