(Reuters) - Army psychiatrist Nidal Hasan, who was sentenced to death for the massacre of 13 soldiers at a Texas Army base, on Friday began his residency on death row at the military's maximum-security facility in Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, a prison spokeswoman said.
Hasan is being confined in the "death sentence inmate housing unit" that is part of the U.S. Disciplinary Barracks (USDB) at Leavenworth, said Kimberly Lewis, spokeswoman for the prison.
The death sentence will be automatically appealed to the U.S. Army Criminal Court of Appeals, and then to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Armed Forces - as is required in the military justice system, Lewis said.
Hasan, 42, was sentenced to death August 28 for a bloody 2009 rampage that killed 13 unarmed soldiers and wounded 31 others. The sentence includes forfeiture of all of Hasan's pay and allowances, and dismissal from the service.
There has not been a U.S. military execution since 1961, and approval from the President is required. In addition to Hasan, there are five military prisoners on death row at the USDB, including former airman Andrew Witt, whose sentence for murdering a fellow airman and his wife in 2004 has been overturned by a military appeals court. He remains on death row while the government considers whether to appeal.
Source: Reuters, August 30, 2013
Hasan joins 5 murderers on military's only death row
The last man executed at the U.S. Disciplinary Barracks, Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, was John Bennett, hanged in 1961 for raping and choking an 11-year-old Austrian girl in 1954.
Sometime in the next few days, Maj. Nidal Hasan, convicted Wednesday of killing 13 people and injuring 32 when he opened fire at a deployment processing center at Fort Hood, Texas, on Nov. 5, 2009, will have new neighbors on death row at the military’s only maximum security prison.
Source: ArmyTimes, August 30, 2013
