FILE – This undated photo provided by the Bell County Sheriff’s Department shows former Army psychiatrist Maj. Nidal Hasan.
Uncredited/Bell County Sheriff’s Department/via AP
hide caption
Uncredited/Bell County Sheriff’s Department/via AP
WASHINGTON — The firing squad execution of Fort Hood shooter Nidal Malik Hasan will be broadcast live, the Pentagon said Thursday, a stunning revelation about plans for the first military execution in more than 65 years after Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth called it “public.”
The Army announced this week that the execution would take place at Fort Hood on Dec. 3 after Hasan was convicted of killing 13 people and wounding 32 others in a 2009 shooting at the military base.
Hegseth, speaking Wednesday to conservative TV station Real America’s Voice, said, “We’ll make sure that people can watch it, that it’s public.” Pentagon officials said Thursday that the execution would be broadcast live and that more details would follow.
Hegseth’s revelation about the public nature of the execution — let alone one as violent as a firing squad — raised new questions about how the death penalty is carried out in the United States, particularly after the botched lethal injection of Christa Pike in Tennessee.
Experts offer mixed reactions to the plan
Hasan could choose to resist his execution and file a habeas petition — a legal request to review the legality of a detention — in a civil court, which could significantly delay the execution, experts said.
“Frankly, this could outlast the current administration, and who knows if the next one will have the same penchant for executions,” said Eugene R. Fidell, a visiting professor at Yale Law School who specializes in military law.
Deborah Denno, a death penalty expert and law professor at Fordham University, said live streaming an execution could make the process “much more transparent” and educate the public about what capital punishment entails. Those are benefits she said would be helpful at a time when Pike’s botched execution raises new questions about how defendants are put to death for their crimes.
“I think it could be a good idea because it would be transparent and the public would be fully aware of what is happening,” she said.
As many states struggle to carry out lethal injections because of difficulty accessing drugs or finding medical professionals willing to participate in executions, firing squads are beginning to be seen as a less inhumane alternative, said Brenner Fissell, a professor at Villanova Law and vice president of the National Institute of Military Justice.
“Firing squads can be a faster, cleaner and more precise way to execute a prisoner,” he said. “I don’t think that’s what’s driving it. There is a perception of masculinity and military character in firing squads that is part of the aura that Hegseth is trying to emphasize – the ‘culture of lethality’.”
Elisabeth Semel, co-director of the Death Penalty Clinic at UC Berkeley Law, said Hegseth’s announcement raises a host of legal and public policy questions, including concerns about the dignity of the accused, who will be eligible to witness the execution and what the Trump administration had in mind in opting for an unusual spectacle.
Although the idea of televising an execution has been discussed for a long time, “I can’t remember a situation where it was instigated by the government. I think it also raises serious questions about the government’s motives,” she said.
“This is a president who loves spectacle and that, I think, is precisely the message he intends to convey,” Semel said, adding that she was skeptical that the administration had thought again about the legal and social issues raised by the decision.
Trump spoke out against public executions in Iran
Trump, who approved Hasan’s execution, has previously criticized public executions in Iran, at times using the possibility of protesters being killed by the Iranian government as a possible justification for military action that preceded his final choice to attack Iran on February 28.
“We have been told that the killings in Iran are stopping,” Trump told reporters on January 14. “They stop and there is no plan of executions.”
In his State of the Union address just days before the outbreak of war in Iran, Trump reiterated: “We stopped them from hanging many of them under threat of serious violence. »
The White House on Thursday referred questions about plans for a live-streamed execution to the Pentagon.
Hegseth was asked Wednesday whether Hasan had made any final demands or contacted the Trump administration. The Pentagon chief replied: “Don’t worry. We’ll see him on December 3.”
It is unclear whether Hasan will appeal
Hasan, an Army psychiatrist who held the rank of major, walked into a medical building on Nov. 5, 2009, where soldiers were lining up to receive vaccines and medical clearance for deployment. He shouted “Allahu akbar” – Arabic for “God is great!” » – and opened fire with a laser-aimed handgun. He also shot soldiers in the back who were fleeing towards the parking lot.
Hasan said it was an effort to stop them from going to Afghanistan and killing his fellow Muslims. A military judge barred him from presenting that as a defense at his trial in 2013. Hasan was left paralyzed from the waist down after being shot in the back by law enforcement, and he now uses a wheelchair.
Hasan could seek an extended delay in his execution, although, given his behavior during the trial, he might not want that.
After firing his lawyers and representing himself, Hasan began his portion of the trial by telling jurors he was the shooter. He said nothing else over the next three weeks, convincing his court-appointed lawyers that Hasan’s only goal was to obtain a death sentence.
The military called nearly 90 witnesses, but Hasan completed his thesis without calling a single person to testify in his defense and made no closing arguments. Yet he leaked documents to reporters during the trial that revealed he told military mental health professionals that he could “still be a martyr” if executed.
Attorney John Galligan, a former military judge who represented Hasan in several civil cases following his criminal trial, spoke with Hasan on Wednesday, but is prohibited from giving many details about that conversation. He is not representing Hasan in his criminal case, but said he is concerned about his physical health under the plan drawn up by authorities, and that Hasan has not yet had access to an attorney.
Galligan said that, according to Hasan, the facility’s commander brought in a chaplain but no defense attorney for the trials or his civil defense when he was informed that Trump had approved his execution. Galligan called it a violation of Army regulations.
An Army spokeswoman said Thursday that several attempts had been made to contact Trial Defense Service attorneys, saying they had made all reasonable efforts and adhered to policy.
“The civil attorney was not reasonably available to be physically present during the notification on the 5th,” the spokeswoman said, adding that the attorney was in Virginia but did not provide a name.
The spokeswoman also said there was nothing stopping Hasan from contacting and communicating with his lawyer.
Hegseth said the military has not executed a service member by firing squad since World War II. The last military execution took place on April 13, 1961, when Army Pvt. John Bennett was executed by hanging.
Amnesty International said in its report on executions in 2025 that it was aware of at least 17 public executions – 11 in Iran and 6 in Afghanistan.
Gn usa
