Nidal Hasan, and the 5 other men on the military's death row

The Fort Hood shooter is eager to follow his path to martyrdom. He's going to have to get in line.

Nidal Malik Hasan
(Image credit: U.S. Government Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences via Getty Images, AP Photo/Bell County Sheriff's Department)

A military jury took just two hours on Wednesday to unanimously sentence Maj. Nidal Hasan to death for carrying out the worst mass shooting at a U.S. military base in the nation's history. Hasan, who killed 13 people and wounded 32 others during his 2009 rampage at Fort Hood, had insisted on representing himself — and hadn't exactly put up much of a fight, declaring on the first day of the trial that "the evidence will clearly show that I am the shooter."

If the Virginia-born Muslim was looking for martyrdom — as many, including his former defense team, claim — then he apparently got his wish. But he'll have a wait on his hands: As Bill Mears notes at CNN, "If swift justice is the goal, history may not be on Hasan's or the government's side." The military justice system requires a lengthy appeals process, whether Hasan likes it or not. Even if Hasan ignores many of the appeal options available to him, there are still mandatory processes in place running all the way up to the Supreme Court, which gets the final say on the matter.

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Frances Weaver is a senior editor at The Week magazine. Originally from the U.K., she has written for the Daily Telegraph, The Spectator and Standpoint magazine.