Fort Hood killer gets sentence he wanted
Death penalty imposed on US Army psychiatrist who murdered 12 fellow troops and a civilian
The US Army psychiatrist who admitted killing 13 unarmed people at Fort Hood nearly four years ago has been sentenced to death by lethal injection.
Major Nidal Malik Hasan was convicted, as expected, by a jury. The main question in the trial was whether he would receive the death penalty.
Prosecutors had from the start built a case for execution for an attack that a Senate report called the worst act of terrorism on US soil since September 11, 2001. But Hasan, a Muslim, taunted the military justice system, refusing to put up a defence and suggesting that death to him was just a means to martyrdom.
His stance left the army's lead prosecutor, Colonel Michael Mulligan, telling jurors during his closing argument that Hasan was not and never would be a martyr.
"Do not be fooled," he told the 13 senior army officers on the panel. "He is not giving his life. We are taking his life. This is not his gift to God. This is his debt to society."
Do not be fooled. He is not giving his life. We are taking his life. This is not his gift to God. This is his debt to society