The upcoming Dec. 3 death sentence of former Army Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan, who killed 13 people and attempted to murder dozens more during a 2009 shooting spree at Fort Hood, Texas, will mark the first U.S. military execution in roughly 65 years. The scheduled execution by firing squad is also poised to break precedent in another way: following an Oct. 8 announcement by Pentagon chief Pete Hegseth, the procedure will be livestreamed, representing the first time in American history that a capital punishment sentence is broadcast live.
Hasan, a former military psychiatrist, opened fire on fellow service members on Nov. 5, 2009, inside the Soldier Readiness Processing Center at Fort Hood, where troops were undergoing preparation for deployment. Responding officers shot Hasan multiple times during the attack, leaving him paralyzed from the waist down.
The victims of the mass shooting included military personnel and one civilian employee. In 2013, a general court-martial convicted Hasan on 13 counts of premeditated murder and multiple counts of attempted murder, subsequently sentencing him to death.
Prior to the trial, military defense counsel represented Hasan, but he requested and received permission from a military judge to act as his own lawyer at trial, while retaining assigned standby counsel to assist if necessary. Throughout the proceedings, Hasan made statements taking responsibility for the fatalities and explicitly stating that he carried out the attack in support of the Taliban.
The U.S. armed forces operate under a military legal framework in which capital punishment can only be handed down for specific offenses, including premeditated murder, sedition, espionage, and assisting the enemy. Defendants tried within the court-martial system maintain constitutional protections similar to civilian courts, including the right to legal counsel, the presumption of innocence, protection against self-incrimination, and the requirement that prosecutors establish guilt beyond a reasonable doubt.
However, court-martial juries are composed of military members selected under military procedures rather than civilian jurors. Serious convictions resulting in the death penalty undergo automatic review by military appeals courts, and any final capital sentence requires the explicit approval of the U.S. president. President Donald Trump formally approved Hasan's death sentence after his military appeals process concluded.
Hasan’s scheduled execution comes decades after the last military execution carried out by the United States. On April 13, 1961, U.S. Army member John A. Bennett was executed by hanging after being convicted by a court-martial of raping and attempting to murder an 11-year-old girl while stationed in Austria. President Dwight D. Eisenhower signed off on Bennett's death sentence, and President John F. Kennedy, who was in office when the execution occurred, declined to intervene.
Meanwhile, the last military execution carried out specifically by a firing squad occurred on Jan. 31, 1945, when drafted soldier Eddie Slovik was executed for desertion during World War II. Slovik had separated from his unit and later declared in writing that he would refuse combat duty and desert again if released.
Although tens of thousands of Army members were prosecuted for desertion during World War II, Slovik was the only service member actually executed for the offense. General Dwight D. Eisenhower approved Slovik's death sentence under an earlier set of rules that did not require presidential authorization.
Eisenhower later noted in a 1963 New York Times report that Slovik was convinced he would never actually be executed and scoffed at last-minute efforts to urge him back into service, an assessment shared by author William Bradford Huie.
The Pentagon's plan to broadcast Hasan's execution live has drawn widespread, bipartisan criticism from lawmakers and public figures. Sen. John Curtis, R-Utah, voiced deep concern in an Oct. 9 social media post, warning that civilization erodes when a country cultivates an appetite for executions as entertainment. Urging Hegseth to reconsider, Curtis noted that Secretary Hegseth’s plan to livestream the Fort Hood execution risks feeding that appetite and stated that the victims deserve justice administered with solemnity.
Archbishop Paul Coakley, writing on behalf of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, issued a statement expressing shock and great sorrow over news of the broadcast. Democratic Sen. Jack Reed of Rhode Island also condemned the plan on Oct.
9, arguing that the Trump administration is handing Hasan more power and offering him a global platform to amplify his hateful, anti-American message, calling it a gift to anti-American terrorist recruiters. Democratic Sen. Mark Kelly of Arizona drew comparisons to authoritarian regimes on social media, writing that a public execution is the kind of thing Iran and the Taliban do and asking if that is who the U.S.
wants to be associated with. Even Vice President JD Vance expressed hesitation regarding the plan, telling reporters on Oct. 9 that he was unsure if the livestream would actually happen and stating that he would not be watching if it did.
Inquiries by researchers revealed no historical or modern record of any government anywhere in the world livestreaming an execution. Neither media records nor the Death Penalty Information Center—a non-profit organization providing data and analysis on capital punishment—could locate an instance of a state-sponsored execution broadcast live online.
Robin Maher, the center's executive director, confirmed that there is no record of any execution being livestreamed. While certain foreign governments perform public executions, those practices are largely restricted to authoritarian regimes.
For example, the Iranian government—against which Trump launched a war in late February—publicly executed two men in July following mass protests in January. According to Amnesty International, the men were put to death following a grossly unfair mass trial involving dozens of defendants related to the killing of four police agents.
Reports gathered by Amnesty International also indicate that North Korea conducts public executions for individuals accused of watching or distributing foreign media, with schools at times systematically forcing students to attend the proceedings.
Some foreign governments conduct public executions, but not the types of governments the U.S. typically associates itself with.
Some critics of the announcement highlighted the connection to authoritarian governments.
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Md. Kazi Bijoy is a dedicated tech enthusiast and content creator with a passion for digital innovation. With years of experience in the tech industry, he specializes in breaking down complex topics into easy-to-understand guides. When he isn’t writing, he explores the latest gadgets and researches emerging trends in the digital world.