In a unanimous verdict, Nidal Hasan has been found guilty on all counts in the November, 2009 Fort Hood massacre.
Hasan had been charged with 13 premeditated counts and an additional 32 attempted premeditated counts of murder. Today’s verdict means that Hasan will face the death penalty.
From NBC-DFW:
In order for Hasan to face the death penalty, the jury’s 11 men and two women had to find him unanimously guilty of at least one count of premeditated murder as well as another murder charge. The military court system hasn’t executed an active-duty U.S. soldier since 1961.
Hasan — who acted as his own attorney — is accused of killing 13 people and wounding more than 30 others at the sprawling Texas military base in November 2009. But he declined to call any witnesses, testify in his own defense or give a closing argument during his trial.
Standby defense attorneys tried to be removed from the case, citing Hasan’s strategy to argue for his own death sentence as an ethical conflict. But the judge disagreed and ordered attorneys to remain on the case while Hasan continued to represent himself.
On the eve of his trial, Hasan released documents from his 2010 sanity board hearing in which he stated, “I am on the wrong side…I am Muslim first…I have to help my Muslim brothers overseas…the wars (in Iraq and Afghanistan) are wars against Islam.”
Jurors will decide whether or not to impose the death penalty. Sentencing is scheduled to begin on Monday.
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