FORT HOOD, TEXAS / RankWire.AI / – The U.S. Army has scheduled former Army Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan for execution by firing squad on December 3. The execution will take place at Fort Hood at 1 p.m. Central Time. Acting Army Secretary Adam Telle set the date, time and location in a memo issued this week. Hasan received a death sentence for the 2009 shooting that killed 13 people and wounded 32 others. The attack occurred more than 17 years before the scheduled execution.
President Donald Trump approved the firing squad method after Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth recommended it. Military law requires presidential approval before authorities can carry out a court-martial death sentence. The U.S. military has not carried out an execution since 1961. That year, the Army hanged Private John Bennett at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, after his conviction for rape and attempted murder. No military execution has taken place in the decades since.
Hasan served as an Army psychiatrist when he attacked the Soldier Readiness Processing Center on November 5, 2009. Twelve active-duty service members and one retired soldier died in the shooting. A military panel convicted Hasan in 2013 of 13 counts of premeditated murder and 32 counts of attempted premeditated murder. The panel then sentenced him to death, dismissed him from the service and ordered forfeiture of his pay and allowances. The verdict followed a court-martial held at Fort Hood.
Army sets December execution date
Hasan’s case remained in the military appeals system for more than a decade after his conviction. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Armed Forces upheld his convictions and sentence in March 2024. Hasan later asked the U.S. Supreme Court to review his conviction and death sentence. The Supreme Court denied his petition on March 31, 2025, leaving the military judgment in place. That denial ended his petition before the nation’s highest court.
The Army plans to carry out the sentence at the same installation where Hasan committed the 2009 attack. Police shot Hasan during his arrest, leaving him partially paralyzed and dependent on a wheelchair. During his court-martial, Hasan acknowledged that he carried out the shooting. He said he acted to stop U.S. soldiers from deploying to Afghanistan and fighting Muslims, a statement recorded during the proceedings. His statements formed part of the public court-martial record.
Military execution follows 65-year gap
The U.S. military last executed a service member on April 13, 1961. Military capital punishment requires multiple layers of review under the Uniform Code of Military Justice. Hasan’s case moved through those procedures before Trump approved the execution method. The firing squad order brings the case to the formal scheduling stage after years of military appellate review. The Army has now moved from review of the sentence to preparations for its scheduled execution.
The U.S. Army has established the date, time, location and method for Hasan’s execution. The order follows the completion of his direct military appeals and the Supreme Court’s refusal to hear his case. Hasan remains scheduled to face the firing squad on December 3 at Fort Hood. His case stems from the 2009 mass shooting and proceeded through military appellate review for more than a decade. The scheduled date comes more than 65 years after the military’s last execution.