Fort Hood Shooter Nidal Hasan Receives Death Sentence

Fort Hood gunman Nidal Hasan has been sentenced to death.

A panel of 13 Army officers of equal or higher rank deliberated for three hours before coming to a decision. The panel also voted to dismiss Hasan from the Army and forfeit his wages. The jury's decision was unanimous.

Before deliberations began, Prosecutor Col. Michael Mulligan urged the jury to ignore Hasan's statement that he was willing to die a martyr for his faith.

"He will never be a martyr, because he has nothing to give," he told the panel. "He is a criminal, a cold-blooded murderer. He is not giving his life; we are taking his life."

Hasan declined to give any sort of closing statement.

If the death sentence is carried out, Hasan would be the fist American soldier to be executed in more than fifty years. However, the military justice system calls for an appeals process that could delay any execution by several years or even decades.