The Pentagon announced it will broadcast the military execution of Nidal Hasan live, a move that would mark the first public execution in the United States in nearly a century. Hasan, a former Army psychiatrist, was convicted in 2013 for killing 13 people and wounding 32 at Fort Hood, Texas, in 2009.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth stated in a video interview with Real America’s Voice that the proceeding, scheduled for the afternoon of December 3 at Fort Hood, will be made available to the public. “We’ll make sure that people are able to watch it, that it’s public, because people need to understand that there’s serious consequences for these types of things,” Hegseth said. The Pentagon confirmed to NPR on Friday that the execution will be livestreamed, though specific details were not yet released.
The decision follows President Trump’s approval of the firing squad execution earlier this week, the first such sentencing carried out by the military since World War II. However, legal experts warn that Hasan could delay the process through habeas corpus appeals, and outside groups may challenge the broadcast plans. Michael Radelet, a professor emeritus at the University of Colorado Boulder who specializes in capital punishment, noted the unpredictability of the process given Hegseth’s controversial status. “If he says, ‘Do it this way,’ it’s not at all clear that it will actually be done that way,” Radelet said.
If the broadcast proceeds, it will be the first public execution in the U.S. since 1936, when Rainey Bethea, a Black man convicted of raping a white woman, was hanged in Owensboro, Kentucky. Approximately 20,000 people attended the event, which featured vendors selling food and drinks, creating what historians describe as a festive atmosphere. The public backlash against the spectacle led Kentucky to outlaw public executions in 1938.
Robin Maher, executive director of the Death Penalty Information Center, highlighted the historical divergence from current norms. “Public executions have typically been held in authoritarian countries to instill fear in the population and to show the power and control of the government,” Maher told NPR. She added that there is no regulation or precedent for a U.S. military execution to be livestreamed or widely available to the public.
Radelet pointed out that the decline of public executions was driven by a loss of faith in their effectiveness as crime deterrents and fears that botched spectacles would turn public opinion against the death penalty. He suggested that a livestreamed firing squad could further erode support for capital punishment, which has hit a five-decade low. “There probably wouldn’t be too much blood, but enough to make people talk about it over their morning coffee,” he said, predicting the discussion might push toward abolition.
Justin Mazzola, deputy research director at Amnesty International USA, criticized the announcement as an addition to the “display of cruelty” following Tennessee’s recent botched lethal injection of Christa Pike. “The U.S. death penalty is irredeemably broken,” Mazzola said, calling for authorities to end the punishment entirely.
Political and religious leaders immediately called for the plan to be reversed. Vice President JD Vance stated he would not watch the livestream if it goes forward. Archbishop Paul S. Coakley of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops condemned the decision as a “barbaric promotion of a culture of death.” Senator Thom Tillis, a Republican from North Carolina, supported Hasan’s death sentence but labeled the livestream “beyond disgusting,” comparing it to practices in oppressive regimes like Iran and Afghanistan.
Senator Chris Murphy, a Democrat from Connecticut, questioned on CNN whether Hegseth was “mimicking ISIS executions,” describing public executions as “medieval.” Top Democrats on the House and Senate Armed Services Committees also issued statements against the plan. Senator Jack Reed, ranking member on the Senate Armed Services Committee, called it a stunt that would serve as a “gift to anti-American terrorist recruiters.” Senator Patty Murray, also a Democrat, urged the Pentagon to revoke the decision, stating, “A country cannot condone livestreaming a man’s death for entertainment.”
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