Experts Speculate About Fort Hood Gunman's Pending Punishment

Military law experts are currently speculating about the upcoming penalty that Fort Hood gunman Nidal Malik Hasan will receive for allegedly killing 13 people and severely injuring 42 others last Thursday. According to The Associated Press, Hasan is likely to benefit from the fact that the military provides defendants with far greater benefits than common civilians receive in federal court.

Those benefits have contributed to the eye-popping statistic that indicates how no one who has been prosecuted by the military justice system has been executed in almost 50 years. There is no current indication as to whether or not the death penalty will be sought or if the prosecution will be content with a lifetime prison sentence if Hasan is ultimately convicted.

Despite the fact that the senior Army officer who will decide the case has not yet been announced, military law experts are projecting that the prosecution will attempt to charge the Fort Hood gunman with 13 separate charges of first-degree murder with each charge representing one of the 13 people who were killed in the rampage.

Although no one who has been prosecuted by the military justice system has been put to death in approximately 50 years, there are currently five individuals who are on death row at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, according to The Associated Press.