(AFP) – 23 hours ago
WASHINGTON — A senior US commander has recommended that Major Nidal Hasan face the death penalty over a 2009 shooting rampage at Fort Hood military base that killed 13 people, the US Army said.
The recommendation for a general court-martial by Fort Hood brigade commander Colonel Morgan Lamb will go to Lieutenant General Robert Cone, the base commander, according to the military.
"We can confirm that Lamb did recommend that the charges pending against Hasan be sent to a general court-martial authorized to consider capital punishment," the US Army said in a statement late Friday.
Hasan faces 13 counts of premeditated murder and 32 counts of attempted premeditated murder in connection with the November 5, 2009 attack at the Texas military facility. He is the only suspect in the case.
Hasan is being investigated for links to Islamic extremism, including his contacts with a radical cleric who blessed the killing spree.
"Lamb's recommendation is non-binding, and the eventual decision concerning the disposition of charges against Hasan will take into account all appropriate factors while observing both the rights of the accused and the victims of the alleged crimes," the army statement said.
Cone will decide whether to convene a court-martial at the base or pass the case to another general elsewhere.
A lawyer for Hasan said he did not believe his client would receive a fair trial at Fort Hood, The New York Times reported.
Twelve soldiers and one civilian were killed and another 32 people were wounded in the attack. Hasan, a US Army psychiatrist at the time, was shot by police who tried to halt the carnage, and he was paralyzed from the neck down.
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