Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth announced that the firing-squad execution of Fort Hood shooter Nidal Malik Hasan will be livestreamed to the public, according to the Associated Press. The execution is scheduled for Dec. 3, making the Fort Hood shooter execution livestream the first public execution carried out by the U.S. military since 1961.
Hasan, a former Army psychiatrist who held the rank of major, killed 13 people and injured 32 others when he opened fire on Nov. 5, 2009, at a medical building at Fort Hood, where soldiers were waiting for immunizations and medical clearance, according to the AP. A military jury convicted him in August 2013 on 45 counts of premeditated murder and attempted premeditated murder, Reuters reported.
What Hegseth Announced About The Livestream
Hegseth told reporters the government intends to make the execution viewable to the public. “We’ll make sure that people are able to watch it, that it’s public. Because people need to understand that there’s serious consequences for these types of things,” Hegseth said, according to the AP.
When asked about Hasan’s final requests ahead of the execution, Hegseth gave a brief response. “Don’t care. We’ll see him on Dec. 3,” he said, according to Reuters.
Hegseth said the execution is set for a Thursday at 1 p.m., a date and time chosen to match the approximate day of the week and time of the 2009 shooting, Reuters reported. He called the scheduling a “no brainer.” Mashable reported the execution is set for Dec. 3 at 1 p.m.
CT, which is 2 p.m. ET and 11 a.m. PT, at Fort Hood.
Hasan was originally scheduled to die by lethal injection before Hegseth recommended a firing squad instead, a change approved by President Trump, according to Mashable.
What It Means For The Public
If it proceeds as announced, the livestream would mark the first public execution in the United States since 1937, according to Mashable. It would also be the first military execution of any kind since April 13, 1961, when Army Pvt. John Bennett was executed by hanging, and the first military execution by firing squad since 1945, according to the AP and Reuters.
Deborah Denno, a death penalty expert and law professor at Fordham University, said livestreaming the execution could make the process more transparent for the public, particularly at a time when botched executions elsewhere have raised questions about execution methods, according to the AP. “I think it could possibly be a good idea because it would be transparent and the public would be fully aware that it’s happening,” Denno said.
Eugene R. Fidell, a visiting lecturer at Yale Law School who specializes in military law, raised a different concern. He questioned whether the process might extend beyond the current administration and whether a future administration would approach executions the same way, according to the AP.
Background On The Fort Hood Shooting
Hasan was shot by police during his arrest in 2009 and was left partially paralyzed, confined to a wheelchair in the years since, according to Reuters. Death Penalty Action, a group that opposes capital punishment, has noted that the Dec. 3 execution would be the first military execution carried out since 1961, according to Reuters.
What’s Next
The execution remains scheduled for Dec. 3 at Fort Hood. No details have been released about which platform will carry the livestream or how members of the public will access it. Those specifics, along with any security protocols for viewers, have not been made public as of this report.
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