A pity. He WANTED this sentence; therefore life at hard labor without parole would have been more suitable.
Indeed. Not, IMO, the right choice. Listening to the Beeb on the way home tonight, they said that prosecutors emphasized he would ‘never be a martyr,’ because they had sentenced him to death. It’s a nice argument, but in his mind he’ll be a martyr and to those who want to view him as one he will be.
So what would be hard labor for someone in his medical condition? Hopefully he won’t appeal and his wishes will be carried out quickly. I have no problem with granting him his wish. Alive he is just a constant reminder for the victim’s family. He wants to be a martyr. Instead he will largely be forgotten. Good.
I was hoping they’d give him life without parole and force him to share a cell with Robert Bales. Imagine the conversations they’d have!
Heck, the RCC’s Book of Martyrs is chock-full of people who got sentenced to death with all the proper formalities (from the Catacombs, to St. Thomas More or people executed during the 20th century). The prosecutors apparently don’t even know what the word means.
The death sentence is wrong in all circumstances. A particularly bad choice in this case.
How come it’s a bad choice? He’s a menace to a peaceful society and chances of reform are slim. How many more people will emulate him or demand his release on threat of violence if he was still alive?
It looks real bad when it’s put next to the Robert Bales sentence. Bales is a soldier who kills Muslims and he isn’t executed. Hasan is a Muslim who kills soldiers and he’s sentenced to death. It makes it look like our legal system has a double standard.
I wouldn’t be surprised if it had people who were imprisoned by their enemies and died in prison - I’m not sure there’s a way to stop someone from being a martyr
I remember looking up some articles to see what the practical difference would be if Hasan was charged with terrorism and finding one that mentioned the rarity of executions under the US military code, and seemed to imply that if he was charged with terrorism and tried by a civilian Federal Court he would have more chance of getting the death penalty. I was surprised by that as my home country (the UK) retained the death penalty for military crimes such as desertion in time of war after abolishing it for civilian murder - I’d thought that there would be precedent with fratricidal soldiers in Vietnam, but apparently there were no military executions from the Vietnam era. How did the US military punish Vietnam-era fratricides?
According to CNN, it’s been more than 50 years since the military executed anyone. So how likely is it that this guy will be next?
Interesting article about this case vs. Bales here. Hard to see how the discrepancies could have been avoided given our sentencing rules but … I don’t know.
What happened to military honor? Officers that screwed up used to be given a revolver with one bullet…and they were allowed to do the honorable thing.
Or is that just romantic fiction?
He didn’t “screw up.” :dubious: He intentionally murdered fellow soldiers.
The longest-sitting Military Death Row inmate was sentenced in 1988 and had his death writ signed by W in early 2008, and they still have not got around to it.
A lot of the appeals process is automatic/mandatory regardless of whether he wants it or not so it will probably be quicker but still a few years to get through it all.
It is when it comes to the US military. That’s not we roll. And why should we give you a BS “honorable” exit when you’ve done something criminal.
Only if you are already biased or deliberately don’t look at the facts. The Bales case was plea bargained to a life sentence so a trial could be avoided. A trial in which a not guilty by reason of insanity verdict could have happened. That would have been a disaster. Hassan did not want to even talk about a plea. This might seem bad from the perspective of someone in a country in which guilt is determined before a trial but that is no reason to change our system.
Ship him to North Korea and tell them he made a porno.
I can’t think what his lawyers are going to argue on appeal. They can’t argue ineffective assistance (because he waived it), he only made one objection that I know of, and it’s not going to be hard to establish legal and factual sufficiency with uncontroverted evidence that he murdered 13 people and attempted to murder 32 more. What’s left?
I haven’t heard of anyone demanding his release, or even supporting him in any way. I doubt a life sentence would increase the number of people who want to “emulate him.”
I dunno. I looked at the facts and I still think the two sentences look bad side-by-side. And it’s a lot to expect that foreigners would read through the minutiae of our military justice system to weigh the differences.
He gets what he wants (after the associated expensive due legal process) and becomes a martyr. Slice it whatever way you like but that is how it will be played and how it will appear.
The USA’s blind-spot regarding the death-penalty is something of an embarrassment, the sooner you ditch it the better. Life imprisonment is cheaper, allows the possibility of release, rehabilitation and provides the same degree of protection for the public.
It’s the sane choice.