Military lawyer gives verdict on plan to livestream Fort Hood shooter's firing squad execution
More than six decades have passed since the US military last carried out an execution, with the next being 'live streamed' for the public to watch.
Army Major and psychologist Nidal Hasan is scheduled to face a firing squad at Fort Hood on December 3, after President Donald Trump signed off on the sentence on Monday.
The Pentagon has confirmed the execution will be livestreamed, with further details to follow.
Now, military lawyer Amy Bateman, who did her legal training at Fort Hood, has given her take on the case in an interview with KVUE.
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She believes the scope of the crime is 'a little bit underestimated', adding: "There were hundreds of people there that day that were traumatized."
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth promised the public would be able to watch, according to the Associated Press.
He said: 'We'll make sure that people are able to watch it, that it's public,' while aboard the USS Abraham Lincoln.
Asked whether Hasan had made any final requests or contacted the Trump administration, Hegseth replied: 'Don't care. We'll see him on December 3rd.'
When was the last US military execution?
The last military execution in the US was carried out on April 13, 1961, when U.S. Army Private John A. Bennett was executed by hanging.
Bennett was convicted by a court-martial of the rape and attempted murder of an 11-year-old girl while stationed in Austria. President Dwight D. Eisenhower approved the death sentence during his presidency, and President John F. Kennedy later declined to commute the sentence, leading to the execution at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas
Bateman said she could not say what the process would look like in practice, as no firing squad execution has taken place since World War II.
Hegseth confirmed no US service member has been executed that way since, and the most recent military execution of any kind took place in 1961, when Army Private John Bennett was hanged.
Four men are on death row at the United States Disciplinary Barracks, Bateman said, with Hasan there for the shortest time.
Presidents have signed death warrants, she noted, but it has been over 60 years since the military carried out an execution. In 2008, George W. Bush signed one for Ronald Gray, who has been on death row since 1988, but the sentence never went ahead.
Hasan's 2009 attack on the Texas base left 13 people dead and 32 injured. He entered a building where soldiers were lined up for immunizations and medical clearance, shouting 'Allahu akbar' - Arabic for 'God is great' - as he opened fire.
He was court-martialed in 2013 and found guilty of 13 counts of premeditated murder and 32 counts of attempted murder.
Bateman addressed a common concern about the case.
Hasan was never prosecuted as a terrorist, she explained, and the crime of terrorism has never been declared, something she believes is important under the military legal code.
In her words: "He took a firearm in there and he intentionally killed all of those people, and he chose to kill his fellow soldiers."
Bateman also said she hopes the execution brings closure to the victims, and that the soldiers on the firing squad are looked after.
"What I really, really hope in the background is that whoever is involved in this, that they really, really, really think about how they're going to care for the soldiers who take his life," she said.
Thomas Bamford