TheOak

Even if Army Maj. Nidal Hasan gets the death penalty -- which many believe he wants -- for the 2009 Fort Hood shooting massacre, he could have a decades-long wait to realize his martyrdom.
The military rarely hands down the death penalty, and it is even rarer for it to be carried out. The last service member to be executed was Army Pvt. John A. Bennett, who was hanged for rape and attempted murder in 1961. There are currently just five service members on the military's death row, one of whom has been awaiting his execution -- and fighting it -- for 25 years.
Hasan's death could come sooner if the self-professed "Soldier of Allah," who killed 13 and injured 30 in his Nov. 5, 2009, rampage, truly wants to die for his twisted cause and elects to forgo appeals. But even so, he could languish for years on the military's death row, in Fort Leavenworth.
“In general, the expectation of it happening soon is unlikely,” Col. Morris Davis, a former chief prosecutor of the Guantanamo Military Commissions and law professor at Howard University, told FoxNews.com.
“The jury won’t be instructed to not give him the death penalty because he [Hasan] wants it.”
- Morris Davis, former military prosecutor
It wasn't always so easy for convicted service members to cheat death. Some 130 were executed in the last century, nearly all between 1900 and 1950. But if Hasan is indeed sentenced to death, he will find himself in exclusive company. Here are the men currently on the military’s death row, awaiting verdicts on their appeals:
Ronald Gray, a former Army specialist who was sentenced in 1988 after being charged with abducting, raping, sodomizing and murdering an 18-year-old female soldier and a 23-year-old civilian woman, as well as attempting to rape and murder another fellow soldier.

Dwight Loving, a former Army private who, like Hasan, was stationed at Fort Hood when he was sentenced to death in 1989 for the murders of two taxi drivers. He is currently awaiting an appeal despite giving a full confession for the killings on videotape.

Former Army Sgt. Hasan Akbar, a Muslim convert who got the death penalty after killing fellow soldiers in Kuwait in 2005. Akbar's attack, carried out with a gun and a grenade at Camp Christopher, left an Army captain and major dead.

Timothy Hennis, an Army master sergeant, was originally convicted in 1986 in a North Carolina civilian court for the murder of three people. His conviction was later overturned and he was acquitted at retrial in 1989. Subsequently, DNA evidence showed that he was indeed guilty, but double jeopardy prevented him from being retried in a state criminal court. But when Hennis, who had left the service, was recalled to active duty years later, the military -- unbound by double jeopardy -- tried him for a third time. He was convicted and sentenced to death in April 2010.

Former Air Force senior airman Andrew Witt’s death sentence was recently overturned on the grounds of ineffectiveness of counsel, but he remains on death row while the military considers an appeal. He was originally convicted in 2005 for allegedly stabbing another senior airman and his wife to death at Robins Air Force Base in Georgia.
If Hasan draws a death sentence, he may beat all five to a meeting with his maker.
“It will be interesting to see what would happen," said Davis. "If he waives his right to appeal, it could speed up the process, but even then an execution would likely be a few years away,” he added.
But Davis said it is no given that a jury will mete out the death penalty, and if it does, it won't be simply because that is what Hasan may want..
“The jury won’t be instructed to not give him the death penalty because he wants it,” said Davis, who said he would rather see Hasan spend life in prison.
“Personally, I don’t see the point in giving them what they want," he said. "I think obscurity is a more fitting of a punishment.”


Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/us/2013/08/28...#ixzz2dICx4Pt1

TheOak

Fort Hood shooting jury recommends death penalty for Nidal Hasan

Fort Hood shooting jury recommends death penalty for Nidal Hasan - CNN.com

TheOak

Put him in general pop in Leavenworth.. He will get what he wants sooner than later.

dam1953

I agree. I'm not a supporter of the death penalty for a number of reasons, but this POS really pushes the issue to the limit. That said, what he wants is to be a martyr to Islam, 72 virgins and all.

So, true punishment would appear to be to make sure he lives a long, miserable life.

TheOak

It's not a death penalty, for him it is a death request facilitated. I don't care to spend one more tax dollar on that a-hole. Get him to his virgins double time. The victims and their families deserve closure since our president decided this was work place violence and they received zero benefits.

WhoDat!656

Why would anyone be against a form of punishment that is 100% effective?

QBREES9

Yeah, Put him in general pop in Leavenworth. Then will see how long he'll last

dam1953

My point is that giving someone what he really wants is not punishment. It is difficult for rational people like us to understand people like this POS and the radicals who fly planes into buildings or strap explosive vests on themselves or their children. Hasan apparently has nothing to live for.

Yes, the death penalty provides closure for the families of the victims, and this should be a major consideration. But, since his desire was to die, keeping his paralyzed a** alive for another 40 years is actually a greater punishment. In addition, it may also serve as a deterrent to other whack jobs wanting to die for Islam. Face it, the real problem is that we have groups like the ACLU who have turned the penal system into country clubs.

”It is not the strongest of the species that survives, nor the most intelligent, but the one most responsive to change.” Charles Darwin

Danno

Wouldn't mind if someone accidentally dropped a couple cyanide capsules in his cell.

"Ooops, now where did I put those capsules? Oh clumsy me they must have fallen out of my pocket."

WhoDat!656

Just before he assumes room temperature, show him the picture of his 72 virgins!