Fort Hood shooter's execution to be livestreamed
The Pentagon says the firing squad execution of Fort Hood shooter Nidal Hasan will be livestreamed, setting up the first US military execution in decades.
Execution plans
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said the execution will take place at Fort Hood on December 3 and described it as public. The Pentagon later clarified that it will be livestreamed, with more details to follow.
Spokesperson Sean Parnell said President Donald Trump had approved the sentence. Hegseth said the military has not executed a service member by firing squad since World War II.
The 2009 attack
Hasan, a former army psychiatrist, was convicted of killing 13 people and wounding 32 others in the 2009 shooting at the Texas base.
Soldiers testified that his rapid reloading made it nearly impossible to stop the attack, and investigators recovered 146 shell casings inside the building.
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He represented himself at trial and told jurors he was the gunman. Hasan said he acted to stop soldiers from deploying to Afghanistan to kill fellow Muslims.
The last military execution took place on April 13, 1961, when Army Private John Bennett was hanged.
Legal and ethical questions
The plan has raised fresh questions about how capital punishment is carried out in the United States, particularly after a botched lethal injection in Tennessee.
Experts say Hasan could file a habeas petition in civilian court, which might delay the execution significantly, although given his conduct at trial he may choose not to resist. The White House has referred questions about the livestream to the Pentagon.
