WhatFinger


"The evidence will clearly show I am the shooter."

Nidal Hasan convicted on 13 counts of murder in Fort Hood shootings



And so it did. The only real question, to the extent that there was one, involved premeditation. But even that wasn't much of a question. The jury deliberated seven hours over two days to reach a unanimous verdict - which, it's important to note, is not required in a court martial. In this case, it's hard to see how the outcome could have been anything else. More from CNN:
Hasan admitted to targeting soldiers he was set to deploy with to Afghanistan to protect the Taliban and its leaders. The shooting rampage occurred at a deployment processing center. It was unclear whether the jury agreed unanimously on 32 counts of premeditated attempted murder. In a court-martial, the jury does not have to unanimously agree to convict. The judge was reconvening the court at 3 p.m., according to a Fort Hood public affairs official. It was not known whether the judge intended to address the question or take up another matter during the session, the official said.

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Even if it was not a unanimous conviction on the premeditated attempted murder charges, Hasan remains eligible for the death penalty based on the jury's unanimous premeditated murder conviction. The court-martial moves on Monday to the penalty phase, where Hasan -- acting as his own attorney -- will have the opportunity to address the jurors considering whether he should be executed for his actions. It's hard to imagine Hasan will not get the death penalty, although I'm sure there will be concern that martyring him hands a cause to the Taliban, Al Qaeda and whoever else. But really, are we still caught up in the notion that these people don't seek to attack us unless we do something foolish to inflame them? If a jihadist wants to infiltrate our military for the purpose of murdering his fellow soldiers, figuring it's a good way to position himself for martyrdom and 72 virgins, I don't think we make an error strategically by obliging him. Hasan is acting as his own lawyer and he'll get a chance to speak at length at the sentencing hearing, so if he wants a propaganda platform, he's going to get it.


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Dan Calabrese -- Bio and Archives

Dan Calabrese’s column is distributed by HermanCain.com, which can be found at HermanCain

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