Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said Thursday the public would be able to watch the firing squad execution of a former Army officer convicted of a mass shooting at Fort Hood, Texas.Speaking from the USS Abraham Lincoln to the conservative news outlet Real America’s Voice, Hegseth said Nidal 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,” said Hegseth, who called the method of execution a “no-brainer.”Hegseth said the execution would be carried out at 1 p.m.Dec.
3 at Fort Hood — same day of the week and time of day as Hasan’s attack.The execution will be livestreamed, according to a Defense Department official, though it’s not yet clear on which platform.The last military execution was in 1961, when Army Pvt.John Bennett was hanged after he was convicted of raping and attempting to kill an 11-year-old girl in Austria.The last firing squad execution by the military was that of Pvt.
Eddie Slovik in 1945 after he was court-martialed for desertion during World War II.Hasan was convicted of premeditated murder in 2013 through the Army court system and sentenced to death.He represented himself, though two lawyers with the Army Trial Defense Service assisted.Hasan, a former major and psychiatrist, opened fire at Fort Hood on Nov.
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