Fort Hood and the rarity of military executions

[Tyr-Ziu Saxnot]

http://news.yahoo.com/fort-hood-rari...161613257.html Fort Hood and the rarity of military executions

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DALLAS (AP) — Hundreds of unarmed soldiers, some about to deploy to Afghanistan, were waiting inside a building for vaccines and routine checkups when a fellow soldier walked in with two handguns and enough ammunition to commit one of the worst mass shootings in American history.
Maj. Nidal Malik doesn't deny that he carried out the November 2009 attack at Fort Hood, Texas, which left 13 people dead and more than 30 others wounded. There are dozens of witnesses who saw it happen. Military law prohibits him from entering a guilty plea because authorities are seeking the death penalty. But if he is convicted and sentenced to death in a trial that starts Tuesday, there are likely years, if not decades, of appeals ahead.
He may never make it to the death chamber at all.
While the Hasan case is unusually complex, experts also say the military justice system is unaccustomed to dealing with death penalty cases and has struggled to avoid overturned sentences.
Eleven of the 16 death sentences handed down by military juries in the last 30 years have been overturned, according to an academic study and court records. No active-duty soldier has been executed since 1961.
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FILE- In this Nov. 6, 2009, file photo, Col. (P) John Rossi, Deputy Commander General of Fires and E …

A reversed verdict or sentence on appeal in the Hasan case would be a fiasco for prosecutors and the Army. That's one reason why prosecutors and the military judge have been deliberate leading up to trial, said Geoffrey Corn, a professor at the South Texas College of Law and former military lawyer.
"The public looks and says, 'This is an obviously guilty defendant. What's so hard about this?'" Corn said. "What seems so simple is in fact relatively complicated."
Hasan is charged with 13 specifications of premeditated murder and 32 specifications of attempted premeditated murder. Thirteen officers from around the country who hold Hasan's rank or higher will serve on the jury for a trial that will likely last one month and probably longer. They must be unanimous to convict Hasan of murder and sentence him to death. Three-quarters of the panel must vote for an attempted murder conviction.
The jury will likely hear from victims and relatives of the dead. A handful of victims still carry bullet fragments in their body. Others have nightmares.
"It never goes away — being upset that it's taken so long for this trial to come," said Staff Sgt. Alonzo Lunsford, who was shot in the head, stomach and upper body. "So now's the day of reckoning, which is positive — very positive."
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FILE - This undated file photo provided by the Bell County Sheriff's Department shows Nidal Hasan, w …

The trial's start has been delayed over and over, often due to requests from Hasan. Any of the hundreds of decisions large or small could be fair game on appeal. The entire record will be scrutinized by military appeals courts that have overturned most of the death sentences they've considered.
"A good prosecutor, in military parlance, would be foolish to fight only the close battle," Corn said. "He's got to fight the close battle and the future battle. And the future battle is the appellate record."
Hasan has twice dismissed his lawyers and now plans to represent himself at trial. He's suggested he wants to argue the killings were in "defense of others" — namely, members of the Taliban fighting Americans in Afghanistan. The trial judge, Col. Tara Osborn, has so far denied that strategy.
Hasan has grown a beard while in custody that he says expresses his Muslim faith, but violates military rules on decorum. After a military judge ordered him forcibly shaved, an appeals court stayed that order and took another judge off the case.---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Has there ever been a more obvious case of guilt in a military trial of an officer having murdered fellow soldiers!??? Yet they let this sorry piece of inhuman scum jerk them around like fools! There will be no justice delivered in this case. For justice they'd have to shoot this GD bastard and should have done so long ago! Find him guilty sentence him to death and let me be executioner(I'D GLADLY PAY). I'd volunteer the gun , ammo and carving/scalping knife too. Id happily put three 45 caliber slugs directly into his miserable head but only after having scalped his sorry ass and having already cut his family jewels off and stuck them directly into his mouth. He more than anybody I ever known about deserves absolutely zero mercy.. Yea, I have Indian blood in my veins.. And that sorry, worthless bastard would know it long before I had finished with him.. -Tyr

[Robert A Whit]

You know, I really don't mind him being kept behind bars till he dies on his own.

[Tyr-Ziu Saxnot]

You know, I really don't mind him being kept behind bars till he dies on his own.

You know, letting that maggot live even one micro-second longer than necessary I consider to be an affront to justice and a GD insult to his victims , their families and friends and every decent American citizen alive. Myself, I'd happily volunteer to step into his prison cell unarmed and fight that bastard until one of us died. I'd break that SOB like a twig...........No brag just a fact.. --Tyr

[red state]

Uuuummmmmm....TYR.....I believe he's already a broken man (from the armpits down). Still, I'd shoot that rabid dog down after I had overturned his wheel chair and kicked him SEVERAL times square in the teeth! No brag...just fact. ~Red

[Tyr-Ziu Saxnot]

Uuuummmmmm....TYR.....I believe he's already a broken man (from the armpits down). Still, I'd shoot that rabid dog down after I had overturned his wheel chair and kicked him SEVERAL times square in the teeth! No brag...just fact. ~Red

Well the bastard should have thought about that before he murdered my fellow Americans. I am like you , to hell with his current condition. I'd still do what I previously stated ... Bravo, your Indian blood although tempered more still comes thru loud and clear.. --Tyr

[Jeff]

I say fry that S.O.B. at halftime at the Super Bowl and televise it so we all can enjoy !!!

Life in prison is not fun but death is even less fun and the law says he should die , the only issue he should have now well two actually , hoping they have depends that fit him well and what God is going to do

[Robert A Whit]

I say fry that S.O.B. at halftime at the Super Bowl and televise it so we all can enjoy !!!

Life in prison is not fun but death is even less fun and the law says he should die , the only issue he should have now well two actually , hoping they have depends that fit him well and what God is going to do

The last military execution was in 1961. 52 years ago. They have sentenced others to die since then, but so far, no executions have taken place.

He has a good chance of dying of old age in jail.

They hung the last to die. This negro raped a 12 year old child in Austria and Ike signed his death warrant. Kennedy was pleaded with to save the kids life but Kennedy brushed him off.

His execution was at Ft. Leavenworth Kansas.

Say, I don't know how many realize this but some of the bases have museums. I encourage you to put those forts on your vacation agenda and visit our military museums.

A bit about Leavenworth from Wikipedia

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia


For other uses of "Leavenworth", see Leavenworth (disambiguation).

Fort Leavenworth
Leavenworth, Kansas
Grant Hall, the symbol of Fort Leavenworth and headquarters of the U.S. Army Combined Arms Center
Type	Army post
Built	1827
In use	1827–present
Controlled by	U.S. Army
Garrison	U.S. Army Combined Arms Center Command and General Staff College 705th Military Police Battalion
Commanders	LTG David G. Perkins

Fort Leavenworth is a United States Armyinstallation located in Leavenworth County, Kansas, immediately north of the city of Leavenworth in the upper northeast portion of the state. It is the oldest active United States Army post west of Washington, D.C., having been in operation for over 180 years.^[1]Fort Leavenworth has been historically known as the "Intellectual Center of the Army".^[2]

[logroller]

It's really a shame he wasn't killed at fort hood. It would have simplified matters.

[Robert A Whit]

It's really a shame he wasn't killed at fort hood. It would have simplified matters.

When I was at various Army bases, we did not bear arms. When Kennedy was killed, it is the only time i was issued a loaded 1911 .45 pistol and ordered to have it on me at all times excepting sleeping.

And when the Arms room issued weapons, the ammo was at the range.

The Major was well aware he was going to kill unarmed people.

I hope our troops now are armed.

[logroller]

When I was at various Army bases, we did not bear arms. When Kennedy was killed, it is the only time i was issued a loaded 1911 .45 pistol and ordered to have it on me at all times excepting sleeping.

And when the Arms room issued weapons, the ammo was at the range.

The Major was well aware he was going to kill unarmed people.

I hope our troops now are armed.

I would think that our troops should obey the riflemen's creed. I find unarmed soldiers repugnant to being a member of the armed forces.

[jimnyc]

Put him in a room that is over 100 degrees in the summer, without air conditioning of course, and have the room at about 50 degrees or so in the winter. Have him perform hard labor. Force feed him pork. Have the scent of bacon coming through the ducts. Have a medical team handy to ensure he stays healthy enough to suffer as long as humanly possible.

Either that or do like Muslims like to do - place a noose around his neck and have a tractor slowly lift him off the ground. No breaking of the neck and let him wiggle and squirm. Maybe lower it a few times as well, just so the fun can begin again.

[Robert A Whit]

Originally Posted by Robert A Whit
When I was at various Army bases, we did not bear arms. When Kennedy was killed, it is the only time i was issued a loaded 1911 .45 pistol and ordered to have it on me at all times excepting sleeping.

And when the Arms room issued weapons, the ammo was at the range.

The Major was well aware he was going to kill unarmed people.

I hope our troops now are armed.

I would think that our troops should obey the riflemen's creed. I find unarmed soldiers repugnant to being a member of the armed forces.

I shall check out what the Rifleman's creed is. But if our guys had been armed, somebody would have shot that Major on the spot. (note, checked it out and comment below.)

Some former Marine has to speak for them but the Army I served with did not allow us to keep our weapons with us unless we were in the field or if a soldier was in combat he had his weapon. Thanks for tellihg me about the Rifleman's creed.

Funny thing about the army, I can't recall it ever being defeated.

Why not commence punishment right now of that Army officer. I don't know but I wonder if he is still paid for his rank and time in service? How does that work pre conviction?

[Robert A Whit]

Snopes says the Major holds his rank and by March 2013, he had been paid over $278,000 while held prisoner.

http://www.snopes.com/politics/military/hasansalary.asp

[fj1200]

Judge halts trial in Fort Hood shooting rampage

FORT HOOD, Texas (AP) — The standby attorney for the soldier charged in the 2009 Fort Hood shooting rampage accused Maj.Nidal Hasan on Wednesday of deliberately charting a course toward a conviction and death sentence, abruptly halting the trial after only one day.Lt. Col. Kris Poppe, Hasan's lead court-appointed standby attorney, said he is willing to step in and be Hasan's defense lawyer. But he asked that his responsibilities as co-counsel be minimized if Hasan, who is representing himself at trial, continues to work toward being executed.
It is "clear his goal is to remove impediments or obstacles to the death penalty and is working toward a death penalty," Poppe told the judge overseeing the case at the Texas military base.
Hasan responded: "I object. That's a twist of the facts."
The judge, Col. Tara Osborn, then cleared the courtroom.

It seems Hasan wants to reverse the trend.

[Gaffer]

He wants to be executed. He can't be a martyr if he doesn't die. So maybe he should get life in prison with no parole, no personal comforts, and no contact with anyone. And bacon sandwiches for lunch everyday.