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Fort Hood Mass Murderer Appeals His Death Sentence

Fort Hood Mass Murderer Appeals His Death Sentence

U.S. Court of Appeals for the Armed Forces heard appeal from Nidal Hasan, who murdered 13, including a pregnant soldier, and injured 32, at Fort Hood in 2009.

It is my sad duty to bring you up-to-date on the death penalty appeal of ex-Army Major Nidal Hasan.

Hasan, as we reported on in detail, was unanimously convicted in August 2013 of 13 counts of premeditated murder and 32 counts of attempted premeditated murder for the November 2009 massacre in Fort Hood, Texas.  A 2019 USA Today article, in a ten-year retrospective, recounted the horrific details of the crime and the aftermath:

On Nov. 5, 2009, Hasan entered Fort Hood’s Soldier Readiness Processing Center, shouted “Allahu akbar” — “God is greatest” in Arabic — and fired 214 rounds in a fast-paced attack inside and outside the center.  Witnesses said he tended to target soldiers over civilians in the largest mass shooting on a military installation in U.S. history.

At his court-martial in 2013, Hasan acknowledged that he was the shooter, called no witnesses and offered no evidence before he was convicted of 13 counts of premeditated murder and 32 counts of attempted murder.

He was sentenced to death — under the Uniform Code of Military Justice, the only other option was life in prison without parole — stripped of his rank and dismissed from the Army.

Hasan, 49, has since been held at the U.S. Disciplinary Barracks at Fort Leavenworth, Kan. — the Defense Department’s only maximum security prison, housing only male inmates.

He is one of four inmates on the military’s death row, which is down an isolated corridor of the prison.

One fact USA Today left out is that Hasan “only stopped shooting when he was shot and seriously wounded by law enforcement officers responding to the scene.”  Hasan was shot seven times by law enforcement, and suffered a severed spine and severe lung damage, was left comatose for a period of time with resulting brain injury, and is paralyzed and permanently confined to a wheelchair.

Some other facts of interest include the following:

  • Those killed were Lt. Col. Juanita Warman, Maj. Libardo Caraveo, Capt. John Gaffaney, Capt. Russell Seager, Staff Sgt. Justin DeCrow, Staff Sgt. Amy Krueger, Spc. Frederick Greene, Spc. Jason Hunt, Spc. Kham Xiong, Pfc. Aaron Nemelka, Pfc. Michael Pearson, Pfc. Francheska Velez and civilian Michael Cahill.”  Pfc. Velez was pregnant at the time.
  • “Years after the shooting, the Fort Hood Memorial Pavilion was built” at Fort Hood.  “It honors those who were killed and injured that day.”
  • During the criminal proceedings, Hasan made it clear that he wanted to pursue a “defense of others” strategy – meaning that he wanted to justify his actions as proper because Hasan “believed by shooting soldiers at [Fort Hood] on November 5, 2009, he would prevent them from deploying—thereby protecting Mullah Omar and members of the Taliban.”  “The military judge…ruled that the defense of others failed as a matter of law.”
  • “Although Hasan, who was radicalized by Imam Anwar al Awlaki and had business cards calling himself a ‘soldier of Allah,’ shouted ‘Allahu Akbar’ during his Nov. 5, 2009, rampage, the Obama administration stubbornly refused to classify the attack as an act of terrorism.  Instead, the Pentagon deemed it a case of ‘workplace violence,’ which made victims ineligible for the Purple Heart until Congress intervened.”
  • “Evidence revealed during Hasan’s court-martial showed that warning signs were missed prior to the attack.  Hasan had corresponded via email with al Awlaki, then a wanted terrorist and the subject of a bungled top-tier FBI counterintelligence investigation under former FBI Director Robert Mueller.  In the 18 emails with al Awlaki, Hasan wrote about killing fellow U.S. soldiers and boasted that he considered himself an extension of al Awlaki and al Qaeda.”
  • Fortunately, as we reported here: Purple Hearts Awarded to Fort Hood Victims, the military survivors of Hasan’s attack were awarded the purple heart in 2015, with Texas Governor Greg Abbott in attendance.  The civilian victim, Michael Cahill, was awarded the Defense of Freedom Medal.  “It is our hope today that we will help, in some small way, heal the wounds that you have suffered,” said Lt. Gen. Sean MacFarland, III Corps and Fort Hood commander.
  • In a letter dated August 18, 2021, Hasan congratulated the Taliban on the Biden Administration’s withdrawal from Afghanistan, boasting “We Have Won.”  The letter also stated “Congratulations on your victory over those who hate for the Laws of All-Mighty God to be supreme on the land.  I pray to Allah that He helps you implement Shariah Law full, correctly and fairly.”

Per military law, Hasan’s sentence was subject to review and approval by the “convening authority,” i.e. the Army general who “convened” Hasan’s court-martial.  “The convening authority has discretion to mitigate the findings and sentence,” but in this case “[t]he convening authority approved the sentence as adjudged.”

Hasan appealed his death penalty sentence, and that appeal was heard by the Army Court of Criminal Appeals.  Military “Courts of Criminal Appeals review the cases for legal error, factual sufficiency, and sentence appropriateness.”  “On December 11, 2020, the Army Court [of Criminal Appeals] affirmed the findings and sentence.  On March 15, 2021, the Army Court denied [Hasan]’s motion for reconsideration.”

Hasan filed his brief with the United States Court of Appeals for the Armed Forces on March 21, 2022.  That court heard oral argument in the case last week, on March 28, 2023.

In Hasan’s appeal brief, he asserts that the following issues occurred during his criminal proceedings, and that an affirmative answer to any of them requires overturning his sentence:

  1. “Whether the military judge erred in allowing [Hasan] to represent himself because [his] waiver of counsel was not voluntary or knowing and intelligent”
  2. “Whether the total closure of the court over [Hasan’s] objection violated his right to a public trial”
  3. “Whether the military judge erred” by allowing a juror Hasan claims was biased to be seated as a juror
  4. Whether Uniform Code of Military Justice’s “prohibition against guilty pleas to capital offenses is constitutional”
  5. Assuming for the sake of argument that the aforementioned prohibition IS constitutional, was Hasan’s offered guilty plea to a non-capital offense improperly handled by the court?
  6. “Whether the prosecutor’s sentencing argument impermissibly invited the [jury] to make its determination on caprice and emotion”
  7. “Whether continued forcible shaving of [Hasan] is punishment in excess of the sentence he received at his court-martial”
  8. “Whether [Hasan] was deprived [of] his right to counsel during post-trial processing”
  9. Whether one of the military attorneys assisting the prosecution should have been disqualified from doing so, as he, being part of the Fort Hood community, was personally affected by the mass shooting
  10. Whether the Army Court of Appeals members were improperly seated because their supervisor was the aforementioned military attorney who allegedly improperly assisted in the prosecution
  11. “Whether the convening authority was disqualified to perform the post-trial review of [Hasan]’s case after awarding purple heart medals to the victims of [Hasan]’s offenses”

Unfortunately, because the publicly released appeal briefs are so heavily redacted, it is impossible to adequately analyze them to determine if any of the issues Hasan raised might merit reversal of his conviction or death sentence.

“The Supreme Court of the United States has discretion under 28 U.S.C. § 1259 to review cases under the UCMJ on direct appeal where the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Armed Forces has conducted a mandatory review (death penalty…cases).”

If the Supreme Court were to affirm Hasan’s conviction and sentence, or decline to take the case, then “[t]he president must also weigh in with final say on the ex-soldier’s fate.  As commander in chief, the president is required to confirm an execution sentence or commute it to what would likely be life in prison.”

“If Hasan is put to death, it would be the first military execution since 1961, when ex-soldier John Bennett was hanged after being convicted for raping and attempting to kill a young girl.”

We will provide an update when the Court of Appeals rules on Hasan’s appeal and when or if the United States Supreme Court decides to take Hasan’s case.

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Comments

In order to be a martyr, you have to die, so shut up and die.

E Howard Hunt | April 5, 2023 at 9:21 am

If Hasan would only claim he is a woman trapped in the body of a man, he would probably receive back pay, with interest, and a promotion to general.

texansamurai | April 5, 2023 at 9:41 am

kudos to a very brave woman–officer munley confronted hassan and though wounded. she still put him down

confronting an armed nutcase who has already shot a bunch of people takes some serious steel indeed

/salute

    Chewbacca in reply to texansamurai. | April 5, 2023 at 10:14 am

    Munley gets more credit than she deserves. She shot at Hassan but he actually hit her when he returned fire. Officer Todd shot Hassan and saved Munley’s life because Hassan was about to execute Munley.

    BierceAmbrose in reply to texansamurai. | April 5, 2023 at 1:42 pm

    At least three inside — unarmed, then Munley, then Toro, faced the rampaging shooter. I’m with you: all honor to them all.

    Here’s the start of an article with a somewhat different lede:

    “At Fort Hood, 10 years ago, armed processing center director, Toro, at last ended a radicalized army psychiatrist’s planned rampage after 13 killed and 30+ wounded. At least 4 others engaged the shooter before that, three trained military within the facility, unarmed, and one facility police officer who closed with the incident.”

    “We’ll never know how many other moments off sacrifice, courage, and grace, unrecorded. Nor, of course, the pain, the grief, and the terror, which was the point of this useful idiot’s distant instigator, handler, safe behind emails and sermons. Willful destruction came to Fort Hood that day, stopped eventually by people who would see the world continue.”

    “Ten years later we pause to remember the wonder of the people who stepped up in an instant to buy time for life and wonder for themselves and people around them. Some died. Some were hideously wounded. Someone was the last bit of effort, to stop the killing.”

    “What brave new world that has such people in it.”

      Chewbacca in reply to BierceAmbrose. | April 5, 2023 at 4:46 pm

      Where did you get the name Toro? It was Mark Todd. And he wasn’t an armed processing center director. He was a Fort Hood Police Officer like Munley.

        Chewbacca in reply to Chewbacca. | April 5, 2023 at 4:48 pm

        Correction: where did the writer of the article get that info?

          BierceAmbrose in reply to Chewbacca. | April 7, 2023 at 5:21 pm

          Transcribing from the linked article as best I can.

          Whoever they were, by whatever names, they did something good in an instant under horrible confusion. We should all hope to do half as well, and hope harder that we never have to.

    Temujin in reply to texansamurai. | April 6, 2023 at 1:42 pm

    But… she obviously needed more time on the range.

2smartforlibs | April 5, 2023 at 10:12 am

Let’s ask the victims. Oh, you can’t they didn’t get an appeal either.

It might be instructive to review this guy’s behavior, direct statements, written presentations and peer assessments as an example of what sorts of things to watch for that may merit closer scrutiny, questioning by LEO and potentially involuntary commitment.

When people spout off crazy nonsense related to oppressors and oppressed while glorifying violence as the solution it is time to take them seriously. Investigating to determine whether they are a threat to others or just a crank isn’t too much to ask. A simple ‘ping’ that some known weirdo just bought a weapon or weapons should have LEO showing up to interview the guy. Use recent social media posts or work/personal interactions for additional context. We must begin to believe folks who say they wish us ill and at least investigate /monitor them.

    Gosport in reply to CommoChief. | April 5, 2023 at 11:35 am

    While I agree in principle with what you have written I think Hasan is a slightly different case.

    He was a Muslim US Army Psychiatrist of Palestinian parentage, which made him all but untouchable by his superiors, if for no other reason than he checked so many ‘diversity’ boxes. Sensitivity to such things started long before the wokeness phenomenon was named.

    That being said, I don’t believe that his radicalization just fell through the cracks. That the FBI, after intercepting his communications with Anwar Al Awlaki, somehow just dropped the ball on following it up. I believe the intelligence authorities, and possibly his military superiors, knew about his radicalization but either didn’t have the guts to push that one up the chain of wokeness to be dealt with or there was some ‘clever’ plan to use him to compromise terrorists.

    None of that would have been admitted of course, so we get yet another lone radical story.

      CommoChief in reply to Gosport. | April 5, 2023 at 12:19 pm

      In point of fact the AAR demonstrates that his peers and immediate superiors did report his behavior however their superiors failed along with FBI to take any actions to prevent this guy from acting upon his beliefs and stated intentions.

      Virginia42 in reply to Gosport. | April 5, 2023 at 3:58 pm

      My money is on them being too chickensh*t to say anything about it. It’s happened before. Cuban spy Anna Montez is a similar example. They had plenty of warning signs about her, but she checked so many “diversity” boxes they were too chicken to put her out of action (I know someone involved in the investigation).

      Given the loons running DOD an DOJ right now, I’m not terribly confident of a good outcome (e.g., this POS getting the chop).

    Temujin in reply to CommoChief. | April 6, 2023 at 2:07 pm

    If they haven’t already done all that, skip it. Just plug in old Sparky and put him to work 🔌 🪑 💡 !!!

Send this POS to meet Allah, one limb at a time.

How about: “The sentence is death, to be carried out immediately“.

But no, let’s let this scum lodge appeal after appeal while the blood of those slain cries out for justice that is — in this age — “afar off”.

    Idonttweet in reply to navyvet. | April 5, 2023 at 1:34 pm

    I have no real issue with him being allowed to appeal. We should want to ensure the defendant gets a fair and equitable trial, that his constitutional rights were protected, and that the sentence adjudged was appropriate to the crimes of which the defendant was convicted.

    I do take issue that it takes so long to work through the appeals process.

    • This piece of filth opened fire in November of 2009, but the case didn’t go to trial until 2013 and the convening authority approved the sentence of the court.
    • It took an additional seven years, until December of 2020, until the Army Court of Criminal Appeals affirmed the findings and sentence and denied reconsideration in March of 2021.
    • Another year passed before the brief was filed in the Court of Appeals for the Armed Forces in March of 2022 and an additional year before oral arguments were heard in March of 2023.

    This is hardly unique to the military justice system, but I simply do not understand why it takes so long for cases to work through the appeals process. We’ve all heard of instances where somebody sits on death row so long while his case is appealed that, by the time the appeals are exhausted and the syringe goes into the arm, people have almost forgotten why he’s on death row I the first place.

      navyvet in reply to Idonttweet. | April 5, 2023 at 5:49 pm

      The problem is he has admitted that he committed the murders. On appeal, the court will be dealing with his “justification” for his actions. This is more of the process to make every criminal a victim. We’re all victims now — we just don’t know it yet.

Another FBI success!

nordic prince | April 5, 2023 at 11:07 am

Why is that oxygen thief still above ground?

    … and excess carbon dioxide emitter. Abort, of all the choices: social, redistributive, clinical, political, criminal, for fair weather progress.

“Hasan appealed his death penalty sentence”

I thought Muzzies were anxious to get it on with Allah, BIg Mo and all those houris,

https://external-preview.redd.it/75oQhdvIsEJwUH9ySB_m79D3qNEYkO2y_fyFN5R1_Xw.jpg?width=640&crop=smart&auto=webp&s=9cbeb4b9c462d99a77bfcd16b9fd3f112a875aa6

Oh, just f–king shoot him already.

I conceived [an idea], I deemed them a “burden”, I aborted them for dysphoric relief and social progress. Wrong story, maybe, baby. Terrorist visibility.

This is a case that highlights my unease with the death penalty.

Crime-2013

Today’s date

2023

He has been in solitary confinement for about 10 years.

I really don’t see how death row isn’t a massive human rights violation, and I don’t see how the cruel and unusual punishment part of the constitution could possibly mean something when permanent solitary confinement is a thing.

    gonzotx in reply to Danny. | April 5, 2023 at 12:11 pm

    You didn’t cap the bottle yesterday Danny

    Human rights violation?

    Maybe the families of the murdered would like a few minutes with him .. alone

    The bad!ard is getting free medical care , food, and legal representation, after destroying hundreds of peoples lives and you think he’s being abused?

    This is actually a new low for you

      Danny in reply to gonzotx. | April 5, 2023 at 9:38 pm

      First could you stop being a drink addled sex addicted wreck? You like insulting fine you get insulted back don’t for a second think I can’t insult you back.

      Second what you are defending is the torture part of the death penalty which me and frankly a vast majority of Americans oppose.

      How about this

      We behave like civilized people, we do not use torture, and when it is time to execute we take them from a general pop to their deaths instead of keeping them in torture for years?

      I thought it was torture when Paul Manafort was being held in permanent solitary confinement and I still hold the view that solitary confinement as a permanent punishment is torture and I am appalled that you feel it is an essential art of the death penalty because that aspect of it has been the end of the death penalty in multiple states where AMERICANS voted to abolish it as a result.

      coyote in reply to gonzotx. | April 6, 2023 at 8:17 am

      Don’t feed the troll.

    GWB in reply to Danny. | April 5, 2023 at 12:18 pm

    So, because he has been getting over 10 years since the crime to make up an appeal and file it, you think the punishment they have not yet inflicted upon him should be eliminated?
    Truly a dizzying intellect….

      Danny in reply to GWB. | April 5, 2023 at 2:42 pm

      What I am against is holding people for years in solitary confinement which frankly crosses the line into torture.

      I would be fine with execution, I am not fine with life solitary confinement.

        GWB in reply to Danny. | April 5, 2023 at 4:33 pm

        You said your unease was with the death penalty.
        None of that has anything to do with the death penalty.

          Danny in reply to GWB. | April 5, 2023 at 9:27 pm

          Yes I am uneasy about a death penalty that includes a process of torturing someone for decades first.

          In this country everyone sentenced to death first goes through decades of torture, the process is part of it.

          By the way here is what I wrote

          “This is a case that highlights my unease with the death penalty.

          Crime-2013

          Today’s date

          2023

          He has been in solitary confinement for about 10 years.

          I really don’t see how death row isn’t a massive human rights violation, and I don’t see how the cruel and unusual punishment part of the constitution could possibly mean something when permanent solitary confinement is a thing.”

          I stated my unease with the death penalty and explained why in very clear terms.

          A desire to torture someone doesn’t make you strong it makes you weak and cowardly.

        SophieA in reply to Danny. | April 5, 2023 at 6:24 pm

        I disagree. Every day a family member of one of his victims lives with the hole that monster left. Or every day a survivor struggles to overcome the permanent disability that monster inflicted. These people are the true victims who have no choice but to face each day since that monster CHOSE to bring death and destruction on INNOCENT people Nov 2009. They have their struggles thrust upon them and will be with them for the rest of their lives.

        When that MONSTER chose to take lives and maim others, he forfeited the rest of his life to the military’s justice system.
        May he live out every day in torment until Old Scratch comes to claim his worthless, damned soul and when his eternal punishment really begins.

        O, Happy Day!

          Danny in reply to SophieA. | April 5, 2023 at 9:25 pm

          I never said don’t execute him I said I am at best uneasy about the idea of imposing cruel and unusual punishment as a general policy.

          Permanent Isolation as a punishment meets any serious definition of torture.

          We do have a constitution that says something about that.

          Execute yes, torture no.

        Evil Otto in reply to Danny. | April 6, 2023 at 6:41 am

        Your words: “This is a case that highlights my unease with the death penalty.” If people are confused by your “argument” it’s because you’re all over the map. Death row and solitary are not the same thing. You’re “uneasy” with the death penalty but you would be fine with execution?

        PICK A LANE.

        Personally, my attitude towards Hassan is that he’s lucky that he’s not getting tossed into a wood chipper feet first. Barbaric, I know, but I’m beyond tired of these creatures drawing breath. Feel free to berate me to whatever level makes you feel most self-righteous. THAT is “cruel and unusual.” We’re not putting him in a gibbet to starve to death (a traditional form of execution for traitors) or burning him at the stake. We’re not even going to cut of his head and put it on a spike outside the Pentagon. When this traitor is finally ended he’ll get a needle, much better than he deserves.

        And where is your source for this? “He has been in solitary confinement for about 10 years.” I searched and couldn’t find anything at all that backs that up. All I could find is that the military’s death row is in an “isolated corridor,” which is not the same thing.

          Temujin in reply to Evil Otto. | April 6, 2023 at 2:19 pm

          Ooh Rah ! He’s had more than enough appeals !!! Send him on his way 💀.

          Danny in reply to Evil Otto. | April 6, 2023 at 4:09 pm

          Death Row-Confinement in a small closet 23 hours a day

          Solitary confinement-Confinement in a small closet 23 hours a day

          Death Row-2 showers a week, you have to be watched by guards and in irons during the shower

          Solitary-Same thing

          Sorry but Death Row is solitary confinement. Creating euphemisms doesn’t make exactly the same thing different because you call it something else.

          By the way to go over my original post because you are pretending I’m not picking a lane

          “This is a case that highlights my unease with the death penalty.

          Crime-2013

          Today’s date

          2023

          He has been in solitary confinement for about 10 years.”

          That is pretty clear I am uneasy about the torture process called death row I did not nor have I ever mentioned the idea I am against execution for him.

          “I really don’t see how death row isn’t a massive human rights violation, and I don’t see how the cruel and unusual punishment part of the constitution could possibly mean something when permanent solitary confinement is a thing.”

          The Death Penalty will either go torture free with inmates in general population or it will be abolished.

          I am not the only one who isn’t a Democrat who has objections to torture.

          SophieA in reply to Evil Otto. | April 7, 2023 at 9:08 am

          No. Do not execute the monster. Let him face each day of torture here on earth. He should not get away from his earthly bodily limitations and the pain and anguish those bring. He did this to himself. He deserves every bit of torture of his miserable existence.

          Monsters need to experience a tortured existence every moment of every day until they expire naturally. Then let Old Scratch have his turn at eternal torture.

    CommoChief in reply to Danny. | April 5, 2023 at 12:24 pm

    Is your proposed solution to put death row inmates into general population, conduct a summary execution immediately following the trial or just let them go free?

    Solitary confinement is mostly for his protection against general prison population. It is not cruel nor unusual. Prisoners are routinely sent into solitary confinement conditions.

      Danny in reply to CommoChief. | April 5, 2023 at 2:51 pm

      1. I would say yes general population. I would like to see something backing up that the other prisoners would kill them immediately or at all. There are 1st degree murderers sentenced to life no parole in every state and they tend to live long (towards society) parasitic lifetimes in prison. If this guy had been housed in general for 10 years + the remaining 10 years before he gets executed….what I have a problem with is a policy that isn’t needed but does reflect badly on us.

      2. Ideally unfortunately we have made mistakes before so I would definitely advocate for general.

      3. Even if they have a hypothetical chance of parole the actual likeliness of a 1st degree murderer going free is practically zero.

      General population isn’t pleasant but to my mind a sentence of eternity in solitary confinement does cross the line into cruel and unusual punishment.

        CommoChief in reply to Danny. | April 5, 2023 at 3:03 pm

        Solitary isn’t cruel or unusual. As someone who adheres to more of an original view of our Constitution there are a great number punishments within the penal system which were not considered cruel or unusual at the time which I have no trouble with. If it was ok then and no one wants to go to the trouble to achieve an amendment to preclude those practices then they are ok today IMO.

        If you think this guy wouldn’t be killed in the general population of a military prison you are, IMO, vastly underestimating the ingenuity of both prisoners and staff to arrange that without any witness or charges being brought.

          Danny in reply to CommoChief. | April 5, 2023 at 9:23 pm

          Even if in this case it is justified by safety of the inmate that is very rarely the case because very few death penalties involve a soldier committing treason and murdering other soldiers.

          In practice the difference between general population and death row for exactly the same crime is a couple of jurors who didn’t see eye to eye with the rest.

          You are right that American prisons used to be worst and at one point everyone was in solitary confinement.

          The founding father’s also didn’t ban “Cruel and unusual punishment as we understand it today” they banned “Cruel and Unusual Punishment”. The discovery of mental health is a vital medical breakthrough that was not understood in the founding father’s time period. Discovery of mental health and the impact of prolonged isolation is exactly the kind of discovery that would have made the founding father’s see isolation as a punishment very differently.

          CommoChief in reply to CommoChief. | April 6, 2023 at 8:06 am

          Danny,

          That’s a very speculative assertion to declare that the Founders would view solitary in that manner. Maybe but maybe not.

          In any event if those who feel strongly about it don’t want to make the effort to pass a constitutional amendment then the level of commitment to their beliefs seems lacking.

          Danny in reply to CommoChief. | April 6, 2023 at 4:01 pm

          They did pass an amendment banning it.

          If they only wanted to ban things they considered torture they would have listed devices and methods they did no such thing what was stated is

          “Excessive bail shall not be required, nor excessive fines imposed, nor cruel and unusual punishments inflicted.”

          That includes locking someone in a closet for 23 hours a day.

          What it costs us to commit no touch torture is we have truly and 100% made our prohibition against cruel and unusual punishment meaningless.

          What have we gained? There is no pressing reason why not house them in general population.

          We had a similarly absurd discussion of is water boarding torture in the 2000s (answer OF COURSE IT IS) and it made us look like cruel little monsters.

          The death penalty will either convert to torture free during the appeals process or we will live to see it ended in all 50 states and by the federal government for federal crimes.

    Gosport in reply to Danny. | April 5, 2023 at 1:08 pm

    Hasan carried out a mass murder of fellow American soldiers in cold blood. He is in Leavenworth Military Prison surrounded by prisoners who while criminals, are/were American military members.

    He is paralyzed from the waist down due to spinal damage from a bullet.

    If he wasn’t in solitary he wouldn’t be alive to talk about appeals.

      Danny in reply to Gosport. | April 5, 2023 at 2:58 pm

      That does apply to this case but in general it doesn’t apply. The norm is that a 1st degree murderer who is in general pop stays alive decades till a natural death.

      At issue however is if permanent solitary confinement is cruel and unusual and if it isn’t cruel and unusual punishment what exactly would be?

        GWB in reply to Danny. | April 5, 2023 at 4:37 pm

        Hmmm, maybe torturing him with razor blades? How about putting him on the rack? How about chopping off his fingers one a year if he was a thief. Trust me, there are a lot of things that constitute “cruel and unusual” long before you get to “solitary confinement.”

        Personally, I think it’s cruel and unusual to justice to let his appeals take this long. Death penalty appeals should receive very quick processing.

          Danny in reply to GWB. | April 5, 2023 at 9:06 pm

          Every European country considers permanent solitary confinement as torture and they are correct.

          I would chose a year a WW2 Japanese POW camp to a year in solitary. Physical abuse is harsh, the torture of permanent solitary confinement in a small closet is worst.

          Evil Otto in reply to GWB. | April 6, 2023 at 6:54 am

          Danny: “Every European country considers permanent solitary confinement as torture and they are correct.”

          Well, good news. It’s not permanent. Hopefully it will end… soon.

        malclave in reply to Danny. | April 5, 2023 at 8:54 pm

        I guess that depends on the conditions of the solitary confinement.

        Gosport in reply to Danny. | April 6, 2023 at 12:19 pm

        143 inmates of state and federal prisons in the US were murdered by fellow inmates in 2019. The nature of prison populations make this unsurprising and unavoidable.

        However, no inmates died due to being in solitary confinement, a type of housing employed for protection of specific prisoners among other things.

        Cruel and unusual punishment? Unnecessary and wanton infliction of pain, harassment, starvation, no health care, unsanitary living conditions, exposure to excessive heat and cold and noise, lack of clothing appropriate to the environment, and exposure to physical danger, would all likely make that list.

        A private room would not make that list IMO. Particularly for prisoners who choose not to associate with or be exposed to the dangers of the general prison population.

          Danny in reply to Gosport. | April 6, 2023 at 3:39 pm

          Compare that 143 to total prison population, it is the ultimate definition of insignificant. It isn’t just insignificant the murder rate in the United States per year is .03%. According to your own numbers the murder rate in prisons is .000118 making it nowhere near close to being close to being even a discussion on justifying torture.

          I also promise you George W Bush’ water boarding killed zero total people. Torture is not nor has it ever been defined as killing.

          What you call a private room is what normal people would call a small closet.

          Being kept in a small closet by yourself for 23 hours a day is the definition of torture and I am shocked and appalled that you would deny that.

          Have you ever spent a year locked in a closet with no human contact being allowed two showers a week before being taken back to your closet?

          There is no definition of torture worth having that does not include that.

          Go ahead keep advocating tying a side of unjustifiable torture to the death penalty people against the death penalty want you to do that so they could hoist victories up in Florida Texas Alabama and Utah.

          Any prisoner could request to be taken to solitary nobody does because solitary is hell on Earth under ideal conditions (and ideal conditions never actually happen).

          The existence of Death Row is not about safety, or law, or justice it is about cruelty for cruelty sake.

    BierceAmbrose in reply to Danny. | April 5, 2023 at 1:58 pm

    I think “unease” is the right response to the death penalty, and all the steps and consequences that collect around it. We’re left only bad non-solutions as alternatives. I don’t have a less-bad option to offer.

    Even so, I think the moral thing is to feel the unease; to know that there’s nothing good about the solution we have, beyond it’s less bad than the others.

    Ironically, the reason this murderer is in solitary is because liberals have caused such delays in executions that death row inmates – who are too dangerous to release into any prison population, being there is no way to punish them further for any killing they might commit in prison – must remain in solitary for the years-long appeals caused by the left.

      First that just isn’t true. In every state including Texas the norm for any murder is life with no possibility of parole. If what you said was true every murderer sentenced to life without the possibility of parole would be in solitary permanently.

      In every state that repealed the death penalty death row was a major part of the reason it was repealed. If we don’t change and stop inflicting cruel and unusual punishment we will lose the death penalty in more states as more people become aware that we torture (there is no other term for life in solitary) inmates.

    Edward in reply to Danny. | April 6, 2023 at 12:13 pm

    “Crime-2013”

    SB Crime 2009. Conviction and sentence 2013.

Appeal? Sorry pal, Texas law says they get to be your travel agent to check in with Allah directly. Suck it up you weasel-y piece of human debris, take your medicine without complaint and go see if your 72 virgins are waiting.

    Texas law has nothing to do with it. He was tried under the UCMJ and the US military has total jurisdiction.

      Camperfixer in reply to GWB. | April 5, 2023 at 12:24 pm

      I stand corrected on that point. However, my main premise is still valid and Biblically sound; this murderer has been breathing air far too long for taking the lives of the innocent. Apparently the USMJ has acquiesced to some endless appeal series…which is so typical of the current judicial system, whether military or secular.

        Danny in reply to Camperfixer. | April 5, 2023 at 3:01 pm

        Concerning appeals Texas has an extremely long process to.

        It’s not an endless appeal series. It’s actually pretty well defined and you have a limited number of venues to which to appeal.
        What’s taken them so long? Politics got involved. Let’s blame the leadership involved.

” 7. Whether continued forcible shaving of [Hasan] is punishment in excess of the sentence he received at his court-martial”

I’d say the shave took off far too little.

“Be careful what you wish for, you might just get it.” Given his described physical condition, I suspect that keeping him alive might be the greater punishment.

Allow this guy the 7 virgins he can see when given the “big sleep.”

Goes to prove how the most dangerous place for the military are on bases back in the states. All weapons in the armory, ammo in the ammo dump and armed security is at the gates. They can trust us overseas to provide force protection for ourselves but back in the states be like the civilians, SOL.

    GWB in reply to scaulen. | April 5, 2023 at 4:40 pm

    And no personal weapons allowed, except inside base housing (sometimes).
    It’s why I didn’t carry for a very long time – I had to work on base and there was no way to legally secure my weapon if I went there.

henrybowman | April 5, 2023 at 5:31 pm

Theres gotta be something wrong with this guy’s brain if he thought his best shot at beating the rap was a “defense of the enemy” plea that fulfills the definition of treason.

Gremlin1974 | April 5, 2023 at 7:18 pm

If the decision is left to whoever is pulling Bidens strings he will be either spared the death penalty or pardoned.

He should have already been hung with a 36 ft rope from a 40 ft gallows, then beat like a pinata till his guts exploded.

Subotai Bahadur | April 5, 2023 at 9:36 pm

OK, we know that today’s military is 90% political correctness and being woke, and at best 10% interested in defending the country. I mean General Milley kept the Chinese government briefed in case we did something in our interest and not theirs.

Nidal Hasan is a Palestinian Muslim who betrayed and killed dozens of American soldiers, back when the two statistics above were reversed. He checks a lot of “diversity” blocks. And keeping in mind that those hearing the appeal are desperate to appear both politically correct and woke for their own career benefit. We have a ruling regime that deplores the 10% interest in defense as a distraction and want the military to be all PC and woke. So do not be surprised if pressure is not put to have his death sentence commuted to life. And it is done.

Subotai Bahadur

MUSLIM TERRORIST

Those are the words you are looking for.

Insane that any article can be written about this without leading with those words and including them in the headline.

Stop censoring the most relevant facts to protect the death cult that inspires these terrorists.

David Walker | April 6, 2023 at 11:24 am

The British Army in Afghanistan during the Great Game had the best way of dealing with scum like him.
They wrapped them in a pigskin so Allah would ignore them and buried them alive.
Worked well by all accounts.

inspectorudy | April 6, 2023 at 1:13 pm

I say introduce him immediately to his 72 virgins!

The biggest mistake the responding officers made was jumping to the conclusion that he was no longer a threat, before they ran out of ammunition!