These five soldiers are also awaiting execution:. Former Pvt. Ronald Gray The longest serving inmate on the military green mile, Gray was sentenced to death in for two murders, an attempted murder, and three rapes in the Fayetteville, N. Though President George W. Bush approved his execution in a soldier can't be executed without the approval of the president , Gray was granted a stay by a U. Former Army Pfc. Dwight J. Loving Convicted in , Loving was sent to death row after robbing and murdering two taxi drivers — one a retired non-commissioned officer, the other a soldier moonlighting as a driver to earn some extra cash.
With his execution planned for , Loving was expected to be the first soldier to be put to death in decades. Two decades later, he is still awaiting a final decision.
Guilty of 13 counts specifications in military parlance of capital premeditated murder, and 32 counts of attempted premeditated murder, his case now proceeds to the penalty phase, where the same 13 jurors will decide whether to adjudge the death penalty. This requires a unanimous vote. This trial, or General Court-Martial, has been filled with complex legal issues.
All of these legal issues have been addressed by the military justice system, and none of them altered the inevitable march towards accountability. These observers range from members of the public to senior national politicians.
Many of them have insisted that the government unjustifiably refused to label Hasan as a terrorist, and in so doing diluted the significance of the legal response to his heinous misconduct.
This demand that Hasan be designated a terrorist and tried as such has never had significant merit. While it was clear from early in the investigation of the massacre that Hasan was in fact motivated by his radical jihadist beliefs, the evidence never supported such a designation, and pursuing such a criminal charge would have been foolish under the circumstances. As for the decision to limit the charges to well established military crimes and forgo a charge of terrorism, it reflected an absolutely logical tactical and strategic prosecutorial vision in order to maximize the likelihood of achieving justice, which in this case was subjecting Major Hasan to a genuine risk of capital punishment.
He is not now and never will be a martyr. He is a criminal. He is a cold-blooded murderer. On 5 November, he did not leave this earth. He remained to pay a price. He remained to pay a debt. The debt he owes is his life,'' Mulligan said. Hasan, paralyzed from the waist down by a shot that came during the attack on the medical center in Fort Hood in November , appeared emotionless during the court proceeding. Despite the death penalty Hasan sought , the closest he will likely get to the execution chamber is the barracks at Fort Leavenworth, Kan.
The U. Gary Solis, a retired Marine judge who served as a military lawyer before becoming a Navy judge. It has to do with the Uniform Code of Military Justice. Supreme Court invalidated the death penalty in the s. In , President Ronald Reagan signed an executive order reinstating the death penalty for the military and listing 11 aggravating factors that qualify defendants for death sentences.
A recent amendment to the UCMJ offered the alternative punishment of life without the possibility of parole for crimes committed after For earlier crimes, troops serving life sentences might be eligible for parole after serving 10 years.
The jury must be unanimous in both the verdict and the sentence. If no death penalty is being sought, a two-thirds majority is sufficient for a conviction. Investigators found spent shell casings in the room where the attack began, Mulligan said.
Hasan carried two laser-sighted pistols and rounds of ammunition, his pockets lined with paper towels to muffle the sounds of the magazines banging together, he said. Military death row: More than 50 years and no executions. At the outset of his assault, Hasan cried out "Allahu Akbar Internet searches on Hasan's computer used keywords like "terrorist killing," "innocent," "Quran," "fatwas" and "suicide bombings," Mulligan said.
Hasan is representing himself in his court-martial and could be sentenced to death if found guilty. As his own attorney, he'll be cross-examining witnesses -- perhaps including some of those he has now admitted shooting. He did not cross-examine Lunsford, however. He told the panel in his opening statement, "We mujahedeen are trying to establish the perfect religion.
Hasan told his family he had been taunted after the al Qaeda attacks of September 11, Investigations that followed the killings found he had been communicating via e-mail with Anwar al-Awlaki , the Yemeni-American radical cleric killed by a U. The case was first set to begin in March , but it has been delayed repeatedly -- notably over a previous judge's unsuccessful demand that the beard Hasan has grown while in custody be forcibly shaved.
0コメント