Military to Seek Death Penalty Against Nidal Hasan

By Jeralyn, Section Crime in the News
Posted on Thu Nov 12, 2009 at 08:37:14 PM EST
Tags: Nidal Hasan, Fort Hood (all tags)

Share This: Digg!

The military will seek the death penalty against Maj. Nidal Hasan, the suspect in the Fort Hood killings.

The Army's intent to seek the death penalty in the Hasan case will likely set off years of legal wrangling. No active-duty troops have been executed in nearly 50 years, and defendants in military death-penalty cases can appeal their convictions in a series of military and civilian courts, including the U.S. Supreme Court.

Even if a ruling is fully upheld, the president has to personally approve an order to carry out the execution, further slowing the process, according to Eugene R. Fidell, an expert on the military justice system at Yale Law School.

Another waste of resources. Or maybe it's just a bargaining chip to get Hasan to forego an insanity defense and plead guilty, accepting life in the brig as a sentence.

< Gov't Seeks to Forfeit 4 Mosques | Thursday Night Open Thread >

Legal

Nothing on this site should be construed as legal advice. TalkLeft does not give legal advice.

TalkLeft is not responsible for and often disagrees with material posted in the comments section. Read at your own risk.

Military to Seek Death Penalty Against Nidal Hasan | 14 comments (14 topical)

Readers Must Login or Create an Account to Comment

unless maj. hasan (5.00 / 1) (#5)
by cpinva on Fri Nov 13, 2009 at 12:19:14 AM EST

transferred to the navy or marine corps, he'd be spending life in the stockade, not the brig.

a plea would eliminate a lot of uncomfortable questions for the army, that's certain.

See (5.00 / 1) (#12)
by jbindc on Fri Nov 13, 2009 at 11:48:26 AM EST

In military capital cases, a unanimous verdict is required in death penalty cases. If it is not a death penalty case, then only a 2/3 agreement of the jury is needed to convict a defendant of the offense. So, in essence, making this a death penalty case will, in theory, make it harder to convict him of this crime. Defense attorneys don't like it when they can lose 3 jurors and still have their client convicted.

§ 852. Art. 52. Number of votes required
(a)
(1) No person may be convicted of an offense for which the death penalty is made mandatory by law, except by the concurrence of all the members of the court-martial present at the time the vote is taken.
(2) No person may be convicted of any other offense, except as provided in section 845 (b) of this title (article 45(b)) or by the concurrence of two-thirds of the members present at the time the vote is taken.
(b)
(1) No person may be sentenced to suffer death, except by the concurrence of all the members of the court-martial present at the time the vote is taken and for an offense in this chapter expressly made punishable by death.
(2) No person may be sentenced to life imprisonment or to confinement for more than ten years, except by the concurrence of three-fourths of the members present at the time the vote is taken.
(3) All other sentences shall be determined by the concurrence of two-thirds of the members present at the time the vote is taken.

(10 US 852)

So maybe not a waste (none / 0) (#1)
by diogenes on Thu Nov 12, 2009 at 09:07:16 PM EST

If he agrees to plead guilty, bypassing an expensive trial with multiple expert witnesses, then having the death penalty on the books will save money.
Also, why would a man who glorifies suicide bombers appeal a death sentence? If he doesn't appeal a conviction, the death penalty suddenly saves money over life in the brig.

In Israel... (5.00 / 1) (#3)
by Watermark on Thu Nov 12, 2009 at 10:22:29 PM EST

they actually don't execute suicide bombers who survive because they don't want to make them into martyrs.


You're antcipating (none / 0) (#4)
by gyrfalcon on Thu Nov 12, 2009 at 11:01:42 PM EST

philosophical logic from an obviously deranged man? Please.


"obviously deranged" (5.00 / 1) (#13)
by diogenes on Fri Nov 13, 2009 at 12:35:02 PM EST

Don't jump to conclusions until he is examined. Perhaps he "didn't know right from wrong" or had an irrestible impulse as the result of mental illness, but this is something that he will need to prove as an affirmative defense.
And since he already posted that a suicide bomber is the moral equivalent of a soldier who jumps on a grenade to save the platoon, he really does need to prove that his actions were the result of a deranged mind rather than a political mind.


: Surely you are aware (none / 0) (#14)
by gyrfalcon on Sat Nov 14, 2009 at 12:12:17 AM EST

that the legal definition of mental incompetence is very, very different from the clinical? This man is, by definition, seriously deranged. Period. His thinking is by his own interior logic, not ours.

Surprise, surprise... (none / 0) (#2)
by Watermark on Thu Nov 12, 2009 at 10:21:51 PM EST

I'm waiting to see (none / 0) (#6)
by Cream City on Fri Nov 13, 2009 at 07:18:56 AM EST

the penalty that would be sought by two of our students, the wife and son of one of the soldiers -- a life-giving nurse -- that Hasan slaughtered.

The family is still waiting to be able to bring home the body and has not even been able to set funeral services.

I think that the military also could focus first on serving the dead and their living families before rushing to judgment on what to do with a mass murderer who is going nowhere any time soon.

I would have to say that (none / 0) (#7)
by Militarytracy on Fri Nov 13, 2009 at 08:23:48 AM EST

this tardiness is due to the investigation. When the military wants to....nobody leaves a stone unturned like they do. Mostly because they have so much unquestionable authority in their jurisdiction.


No. We already buried one (none / 0) (#9)
by Cream City on Fri Nov 13, 2009 at 08:32:22 AM EST

of the victims from our state. So the reason you conjecture occurred to me, but it would seem ruled out.


: I know that they will work very hard (5.00 / 1) (#10)
by Militarytracy on Fri Nov 13, 2009 at 08:40:29 AM EST

to completely reconstruct what happened. It can be difficult to do in some cases. The only other thing that I can think of is that the soldiers tasked with making the arrangements with the soldier's family are at fault. There is a bereavement officer who has been assigned to do everything in their power to assist the family in funeral arrangements and also death benefits. Some of them have even uncovered death benefits attached to checking accounts and credit card accounts that family members have also missed in their grief. They tend to be very thorough and committed. It would be odd to me to find one this dysfunctional.

I have read this morning (none / 0) (#8)
by Militarytracy on Fri Nov 13, 2009 at 08:26:27 AM EST

that he is likely paralyzed.

Some Muslim leaders (none / 0) (#11)
by jbindc on Fri Nov 13, 2009 at 11:33:27 AM EST

At least in the Detroit area (the largest population of Muslims outside the Middle East) are calling for the maximum penalty for Hasan assuming he's found guilty, saying his actions were not Islamic:

A group of Muslim leaders are gathering this morning in Southfield to call for the maximum punishment against the Fort Hood, Texas shooter, saying his actions were not Islamic.
"If he's deemed not to be mentally ill, he should receive the maximum penalty," said Dawud Walid, head of the Michigan branch of the Council on American-Islamic Relations.