USA – MILITARY: TOP MILITARY COURT UPHOLDS DEATH SENTENCE FOR EX-SOLDIER WHO KILLED 13 IN MASS SHOOTING AT TEXAS BASE

September 13, 2023:

A top military appellate court has upheld the death sentence given to a former Army officer who killed more than a dozen people in a mass shooting 14 years ago at one of the largest bases in the country.
Just weeks before he was to be deployed to Afghanistan, Army Maj. Nidal Hasan on Nov. 5, 2009 walked into the Soldier Readiness Processing Center at Fort Hood, now Fort Cavazos, Texas, where troops receive medical treatment before and after deployments, and opened fire with a semi-automatic handgun.
Hasan, a psychiatrist, killed 13 people and wounded dozens more by the time police arrived and subdued him.
Witnesses testified Hasan screamed "Allahu akbar" ("God is greatest" in Arabic) as he sprayed gunfire with his handgun. 
Hasan, who was 39 at the time of the killings, was convicted by a military jury at a court-martial in 2013 and sentenced to death. He’s on death row at Fort Leavenworth, Kan., but all his appeals must be exhausted before he can be put to death.
Earlier this month, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Armed Forces affirmed the death sentence for Hasan, rejecting various claims the gunman has raised, including he wasn’t given a fair trial and he was forcibly shaved while in custody. Hasan, now 53, was paralyzed when police shot him during the killing spree, and he is confined to a wheelchair.
“After carefully considering his raised issues and the record, we conclude that [Hasan] is not entitled to any relief,” the court stated in its 118-page decision. “We therefore affirm the [death sentence from] the lower court.”
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Armed Forces is the military’s highest appellate court and has worldwide jurisdiction over matters involving active-duty military personnel and others who are subject to the Uniform Code of Military Justice.