*The Defense Department plans to livestream the Dec. 3 execution of Nidal Hasan, a department official said. Hasan, a former Army major, will face a firing squad at 1 p.m. at Fort Hood, Texas. According to NBC News, the streaming platform has not been named.
The execution method departs from military tradition. Lethal injection at the U.S. Disciplinary Barracks is the usual approach, but the department says Hasan will die by firing squad. A service member whose death sentence has received presidential approval can seek habeas corpus relief in federal court, according to the Death Penalty Information Center. It is unknown whether Hasan will challenge the method in court.
The military has not carried out an execution since 1961, when the Army hanged Pvt. John Bennett. The last military firing squad dates to 1945, when Pvt. Eddie Slovik was executed for desertion during World War II.
Hasan opened fire at Fort Hood on Nov. 5, 2009, killing 13 people and wounding 32 others. His execution is scheduled for the same day of the week and the same time of day as that attack.
He represented himself during the long court process. An Army court convicted him of premeditated murder in 2013 and sentenced him to death.
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NBC News reported that the Pentagon began developing the firing squad plan earlier this year. Pentagon spokesperson Sean Parnell said President Donald Trump recently approved Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s recommendation to move forward.
Hegseth discussed the plan in an interview with Real America’s Voice from the USS Abraham Lincoln. He said Hasan is “going to get a firing squad of soldiers, and we’ll make sure that people are able to watch it.”
“People need to understand that there’s serious consequences for these types of things,” Hegseth said. He called the method a “no-brainer.”
Asked whether Hasan had contacted Trump or made final requests, Hegseth kept his reply short. “Don’t care,” he said. “We’ll see him on Dec. 3rd.”
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