Additional Fort Hood Charges Filed
[Guest post by DRJ]
Thirty-two counts of attempted premeditated murder have been filed against Fort Hood suspect Major Nidal Hasan, in addition to the 13 premeditated murder charges that have already been filed:
“The Army says the attempted murder charges filed Wednesday are related to the 30 soldiers and two civilian police officers injured in the shooting at a soldier processing center on the central Texas post.
Hasan’s attorney, John Galligan, says the additional charges may not affect Hasan’s punishment if he is convicted, because premeditated murder carries the death penalty.”
The Army has not yet announced whether it plans to pursue the death penalty.
— DRJ
If they do not pursue the death penalty in this case, then the military de facto does not have a death penalty.
Dustin (cf255c) — 12/2/2009 @ 1:16 pmCan anyone offer a justification for why they wouldn’t pursure the death penalty here? Does the body count have to reach at least 50 until that kicks in?
Dmac (a964d5) — 12/2/2009 @ 1:19 pmI don’t know specifically about military proceedings but it’s common in civilian criminal courts for it to take time to announce they will be pursuing the death penalty. There are usually a lot of hoops to jump through — not only legally but internally.
DRJ (dee47d) — 12/2/2009 @ 1:23 pmStill waiting for a count of treason.
htom (412a17) — 12/2/2009 @ 1:57 pmI read somewhars that the president generally signs off on capital cases in military proceedings. Considering our ditherer-in-chief, we could be waiting a while.
luagha (5cbe06) — 12/2/2009 @ 2:24 pmI can’t imagine them NOT pursuing the death penalty. I believe POTUS has to sign off on the actual execution, but not pursuing the death penalty. This is based on my shotty recollection…
Mark (dc308b) — 12/2/2009 @ 2:50 pmdon’t worry: i’m sure President Palin will sign off on it….
redc1c4 (fb8750) — 12/2/2009 @ 3:31 pmhtom – I seem to remember that a charge of Treason hss to involve more than just one guilty person doing something against the State – so that Treason of selling State Secrets actually involves the seller and the buyer …
Dmac – I have a similar question, except that my question is – how high does the body count have to go for it to be an act of War rather than a criminal act ?
Mark – I suspect we are more likely to get an electronic signature from TOTUS than a signature from POTUS …
Alasdair (e7cb73) — 12/2/2009 @ 4:10 pmIn a more just world, there would be FOURTEEN counts of premeditated murder. One of the murdered soldiers was pregnant.
re: capital punishment — too bad they’re not trying Maj Nidal in a Texas court, if you know what I mean….furious
furious (71af32) — 12/2/2009 @ 4:16 pmHe should get the death penalty.
I agree with furious, the death count is at 14.
Vivian Louise (643333) — 12/2/2009 @ 5:02 pmNo, Treason just requires more than one direct witness. Three, I think.
I’m pretty sure they can make that hurdle.
Scott Jacobs (d027b8) — 12/2/2009 @ 7:01 pmSection 3. Treason against the United States, shall consist only in levying war against them, or in adhering to their enemies, giving them aid and comfort. No person shall be convicted of treason unless on the testimony of two witnesses to the same overt act, or on confession in open court.
nk (df76d4) — 12/2/2009 @ 7:07 pmObama and Holder didn’t hesitate to pronounce KSM guilty and give him the death penalty. Maybe Obama doesn’t want to give the world the impression that he wants to execute only muslims.
Of course he hasn’t stopped sending the predators into Pakistan. Maybe he thinks people will blame Bush for killing the Pakistani muslims. He blames everything else on Bush so why not.
MU789 (4e85ea) — 12/2/2009 @ 7:08 pmToo little, too late.
Patricia (b05e7f) — 12/2/2009 @ 7:59 pmWhere’s that feller that killed them four cops in the NW?
Oh wait, the other cops KILLED his ass!
Leaving open the courts to continue to pursue their overloaded dockets in time. Allowing what would have become a small army of public defenders some internship time as well.
TC (0b9ca4) — 12/2/2009 @ 8:28 pmSection 3. Treason against the United States, shall consist only in levying war against them, or in adhering to their enemies, giving them aid and comfort. No person shall be convicted of treason unless on the testimony of two witnesses to the same overt act, or on confession in open court.
Sounds like the levying war part applies here.
Bored Lawyer (44ef84) — 12/3/2009 @ 9:54 amAnd here I think it would be a good educational moment to charge treason. This is not just some whack job who shot up some people. This is someone who had an ideological commitment to make war (jihad) against the United States. And he was a Major in the U.S. Army at the time! That’s treason, not just murder.
Bored Lawyer (44ef84) — 12/3/2009 @ 9:58 amGod, don’t I wish all our “wars” were like that. With all due sympathy to the fourteen victims.
(For the historically ignorant, our Civil War cost half million lives, and World Wars I and II nearly the same.)
nk (df76d4) — 12/3/2009 @ 10:54 amnk, a lot of reasonable people fear that by the time this war is over, a wmd will go off somewhere. That’s why Bush went to such lengths to prevent Saddam from having any (more) to give away. That’s why his and Obama’s failure in Iran is a massive strategic blunder.
I think if a Nazi in 1948 shot 14 of our people in Ft Bragg, we would have considered that a historically major event.
Dustin (cf255c) — 12/3/2009 @ 11:10 am