Nidal Hasan Arrives On Military’s Death Row

Army psychiatrist Nidal Hasan arrived at the military’s death row on Friday. The military’s maximum security facility is located in Fort Leavenworth, Kansas.

Hasan was sentenced to death last week for the killing of 13 soldiers at a Texas Army base in 2009. The bloody rampage killed 13 unarmed soldiers and wounded 31 more.

The convicted killer’s arrival on death row was announced by Kimberly Lewis, a spokeswoman for the prison. Reuters reports that Hasan is being held in the “death sentence inmate housing unit,” which is part of the US Disciplinary Barracks (USDB) at Leavenworth.

Including Major Hasan, there are five military prisoners on death row at USDB. They include former airman Andrew Witt, whose sentence for murdering two people in 2004 was overturned by a military appeals court.

While Nidal Hasan was convicted and sentenced to death, it will likely be years before that sentence is carried out — if at all. There has not been a US military execution since 1961.

CNN notes that a 13-member military panel spent less than two hours deliberating Hasan’s fate before the president (forewoman in this case)- announced that Hasan should “be put to death” for his crimes.

The convicted killer said nothing as the sentence was read and appeared emotionless as the trial came to a close. Hasan serves as his own attorney and during the trial he failed to offer any evidence to show he was not the killer. He also stated in his opening argument that he was the Fort Hood shooter.

The judge in the case accepted the finding immediately and stated that the matter will now go to the “convening authority.” The authority is an Army general who will review the material from the four-week-long trial. He will then make the final decision on whether or not to accept the guilty verdict and death penalty sentence.

It is likely that Nidal Hasan will spend several years on death row while his case passes through multiple appeals courts.