In late 2009, Army Major Nidal Hasan went on a shooting spree at Fort Hood, Texas. Earlier today, a military jury convicted him of 13 counts of premeditated murder.
The jurors deliberated fewer than seven hours over two days to hand down a verdict against Hasan, who admitted to targeting soldiers he was set to deploy with to Afghanistan to protect the Taliban and its leaders. The shooting rampage occurred at a deployment processing center.I am not a supporter of capital punishment, so I would personally like to see Hasan sentenced to a very long stay in a safe facility where he can never harm anyone else ever again.
The court-martial will reconvene at 4 p.m. ET. There is a question of whether the conviction on all 32 counts of premeditated attempted murder was unanimous. It is unclear at this time whether the court will address that question then, according to a Fort Hood public affairs spokesman.
The court-martial next moves to the penalty phase, where Hasan -- acting as his own attorney -- will have the opportunity to address the jurors considering whether he should be executed for his actions.
I feel like I should feel happy or relieved about this conviction, but I don't. I just feel something I guess is best described as sad. I hope the conviction brings the survivors of the shooting, and the family, friends, and colleagues of the people who died in the shooting, some measure of justice and peace.
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