KILLEEN, TX (Killeen Daily Herald) — It was 64 years ago today, on April 13, 1961, when the U.S. military last executed a servicemember for committing a capital crime. Will Fort Hood mass murderer Nidal Hasan be the next to be executed since the nation’s highest court has denied a petition to reconsider his appeal?
In short, it is up to Hasan.
“The Supreme Court denied certiorari, which means they are not going to review the case, but that doesn’t mean an execution is imminent,” said attorney Greg Rinckey, founding partner with national law firm Tully Rinckey PLLC in Albany, N.Y. Now in private practice, Rinckey previously served in the U.S. Army’s Judge Advocate General’s Corps. “The next step is for the case to be forwarded to the executive branch of government and I don’t think he’ll get much sympathy there. President Donald Trump and his advisers would review the case and then the president likely will sign the actual death warrant that will set an execution date. If Hasan does not continue to appeal, an execution could happen within a year or so.”
Hasan has another avenue available if he chooses to pursue it: a petition for a stay of execution.
The fact that the Supreme Court decided to not hear the case “doesn’t mean that he’s close to execution,” said Rinckey, who spoke with the Herald on Friday. “Assuming that President Trump signs the death warrant, an execution could happen in the next couple of years. Some federal criminal cases, such as Timothy McVeigh’s, move very quickly after appeals are rejected. If Hasan choses, he could appeal to a federal court under habeas corpus for a stay. That has happened in a lot of other cases. I’m sure he’ll be talking with his defense team about whether to continue to file for stays, but it’s up to him.”
Hasan was an Army psychiatrist at the time he opened fire at a crowded Soldier Readiness Processing Center at then-Fort Hood, killing 13 people and wounding 31 other people. On March 31, the U.S. Supreme Court decided to not hear a petition for a writ of certiorari that was filed on Aug. 1, 2024, by ex-Maj. Hasan’s defense attorney with the U.S. Army’s Defense Appellate Division in Fort Belvoir, Va.
Attorneys with the U.S. Department of Justice responded on Feb. 21, arguing that the initial court-martial decision was appropriate and affirmed through subsequent appeals: “Following a trial before a general court-martial, petitioner was convicted on 13 specifications of premeditated murder…and 32 specifications of attempted premeditated murder…The court-martial sentenced petitioner to death. The convening authority approved the adjudged sentence. The Army Court of Criminal Appeals affirmed. The Court of Appeals for the Armed Forces affirmed.”
Hasan is one of four inmates currently on death row at the U.S. Disciplinary Barracks on Fort Leavenworth, Kansas.
