The Trump administration has approved a plan to execute former Army Maj. Nidal Hasan, who killed 13 people in a 2009 shooting at Fort Hood, by a firing squad, chief Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell said. Parnell announced on social media that the plan to use an Army firing squad was recommended by Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and approved by President Trump. The Secretary of the Army will set the time and place of the execution, and Parnell noted that judgment day has finally arrived. A former Army psychiatrist, Hasan was convicted of murdering 13 people and injuring more than 30 in a 2013 court-martial. During his trial, Hasan acknowledged responsibility for the shooting, claiming he opened fire on fellow service members to protect Islamic insurgents from the U.S. military. He received a death sentence. This case could mark the military’s first execution of an American service member since 1961, when a soldier was hanged for raping and attempting to murder an 11-year-old girl. It would also mark a rare use of a firing squad, a method used in South Carolina three times last year, which represented the first firing squad executions since 2010. While the federal government typically uses lethal injection for civilian death penalty cases, the Justice Department stated earlier this year that federal officials should consider alternative methods, including firing squads, electrocution, and lethal gas. Hegseth’s decision follows a lengthy appeals process for Hasan. Hasan chose to represent himself at trial and clashed with his court-appointed standby attorneys, who expressed concern that he was intentionally seeking the death penalty. In 2024, Hasan asked the Supreme Court to review his case, arguing that the judge violated his right to a public trial by clearing the public from the courtroom before discussing specific issues with attorneys. The high court declined to take up the issue.
Source: cbsnews.com
