Major Nidal Hasan was found guilty on all charges of murder and attempted murder in his trial for the shooting of 12 soldiers and one civilian on November 5, 2009 at the Fort Hood military base. Over 30 people were injured.
The sentencing phase begins on Monday at 9AM, and the death penalty is on the table.
The prosecution rested on Wednesday after two weeks of presenting evidence. They suffered a slight setback earlier in the case when Judge Col. Tara Osborn threw out evidence that would prove Hasan’s motive that matched Hasan’s defense and showed he believed he had a “jihad duty” to murder his fellow soldiers. Despite the setback, the prosecution called over 80 witnesses and presented hundreds of pieces of evidence. They gave their closing arguments on Thursday.
Hasan represented himself, but Osborn threw out his original defense. He wanted to tell the jury he murdered the soldiers to prevent them from murdering al-Qaeda and Taliban soldiers in Afghanistan. Hasan remained quiet when the prosecution presented their case over the past two weeks. He only spoke up to challenge the definition of jihad and cross-examine Staff Sgt. Juan Alvarado. Hasan rested his case on Wednesday and declined a closing argument on Thursday.
The jury received the case Thursday afternoon.
The families of the victims and survivors have sued the federal government and Pentagon officials because they believe the attack could have been prevented. They did not approve of Osborn dismissing evidence, which included emails between Hasan and Anwar al-Awlaki. The New York Times received two emails from Hasan, sent prior to the attack, and provided more evidence the Army could have prevented the attack. One victim challenged President Obama to call Fort Hood a terror attack.