Ft. Hood Shooting Suspect to Face Death Penalty
 

The Army psychiatrist charged in the deadly Fort Hood rampage will be tried in a military court and face the death penalty, the commanding general for the Texas military post announced Wednesday.Maj. Nidal Hasan is charged with 13 counts of premeditated murder and 32 counts of attempted premeditated murder in the November 2009 shooting spree at the Texas Army post.
It was not immediately clear when Hasan will be arraigned in a Fort Hood courtroom. He must plead not guilty based on the nature of the case, according to military law.
Hasan's lead attorney, John Galligan, had urged the commanding general not to seek the death penalty, saying such cases were more costly, time-consuming and restrictive. In cases where death is not a punishment option for military jurors, soldiers convicted of capital murder are automatically sentenced to life imprisonment without parole.
"I believe the Army as an institution has long been planning to go this route," Galligan told The Associated Press on Wednesday from his office near Fort Hood, about 125 miles south of Fort Worth.
Two Army colonels who reviewed the case previously recommended that Hasan be tried in a military court and face the death penalty.

Galligan has declined to say whether he is considering an insanity defense for his client. He has refused to disclose results of a military mental health panel's evaluation of Hasan but said it would not prevent the military from pursuing a court-martial.
The three-member panel determined whether Hasan is competent to stand trial and his mental state during the shootings. It also determined if he had a severe mental illness that day, and if so, whether such a condition prevented him from knowing at the time that his alleged actions were wrong.
Hasan was paralyzed from the waist down after being shot by police the day of the rampage. He remains jailed in the Bell County Jail, which houses defendants for nearby Fort Hood.
Hasan has attended several brief court hearings and an evidentiary hearing last fall that lasted about two weeks. He sometimes took notes and showed no reaction as 56 witnesses testified, including more than two dozen soldiers who survived gunshot wounds.


Witnesses testified that a gunman wearing an Army combat uniform shouted "Allahu Akbar!" - which is Arabic for "God is great!" - and started shooting in a small but crowded medical building where deploying soldiers get vaccines and other tests. The gunman fired rapidly, pausing only to reload, even shooting some people as they hid under tables or fled the building, witnesses said. He fatally shot two people who tried to stop him by throwing chairs, and killed three soldiers who were protecting civilian nurses, according to testimony.
The gunman was identified as Hasan, an American-born Muslim who was scheduled to deploy to Afghanistan the following month. Before the attack, Hasan bought a laser-equipped semiautomatic handgun and repeatedly visited a firing range, where he honed his skills by shooting at the heads on silhouette targets, witnesses testified during the hearing.


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good

I can't think of a more appropriate case for the death penalty.

Of course there is no real difference between the death penalty and life in prison any more.

Although I agree with the death penalty, this lets this sucker get off too easy.
:nope:

I was about to suggest firing squad as the form of execution, but that would be giving him a soldiers death. Which is, by old military tradition, an honorable way to go out as opposed to other forms of execution. So I think they should just hang him like the dog he is instead. A long drop and a short stop.

Of course in reality, its all about "the needle" nowadays.

Meh!
They will probably say he was insane because
he was just "Crazy about that sort of thing".
:nope:

I say give him a Black Hood and that LONG drop.
All the while wearing the prisoner garb.
Then bury him in an unmarked grave.

I also agree with you. Spending the rest of your life in a cell, paralyzed and crapping in a bag also sounds like a good punishment.

I am not 100% sure but I do believe that the US military does still hang those who receive the death sentence or it is an option for the convicted.I think I read some place that the US military has not executed anyone in some time I think I recall reading that there where three or four guys at Ft.Leavenworth waiting it seems that a military execution(of a military member) requires the presidents approval.

I think of the others that Bush approved not long before he left office (two had been waiting since his dad was in office the other since Clinton's time) One had murdered Germans and other military members back in the early 80s the other had killed civilians near his base in the states back in the 80s and the last guy had beat a fellow solider to death because he was gay.

I am pretty sure if Hasan gets death he wont have to wait as long but who knows.Of course seeing as he is paralyzed that may effect how they go about it even if there are choices.

Actually I think a firing squad consisting of really bad marksmen would do the trick.

What kind of crap is this? He ran around singing "Allahu Akbar". I think that thats complete B.S and a slap in the face to those who died that his defence attorney is saying, well he turned into a murderous rampaging terrorist one day and then snapped out of it after they shot him :nope:

This is what I would suggest but thats just me...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capital...nt_in_Mongolia

Look at the picture on the top right.

I think seeing as this man is a shrink himself he may have a hard time with a mental illness claim after all he should have known something was wrong and spoken to another shrink if he truly was "mentally ill".


If he gets a firing squad I'd prefer they be good shots seeing as they aim for center mass and hed get hit in the heart and lungs he would not die for 20 or 30 seconds maybe longer.I viewed on some show an ER doc saying that even if your heart was blown apart you will still be alive for about 20 seconds.

Looking at what he did and the number of lives he is responsible for taking, the death penalty does sound appropriate IMHO.

Alive, perhaps, but you lose consciousness almost immediately due to the rapid drop in blood pressure.

Death makes him a martyr, and imprisonment with others could make him a hero.

Lock his paralyzed ass in a pigsty, and let him wallow in his own filth. Bad enough our tax dollars are supporting his medical expenses right now.