Court-Martial Trial Practice Blog
The U.S. Supreme Court denied his petition in March. See, e.g., Lauren Keenan, Hegseth seeks death penalty for Fort Hood shooter Nidal Hasan. SAN, 24 September 2025.
A. Sec. Hegseth is not seeking the death penalty; that’s been adjudged and affirmed, but he is seeking approval so an execution can be scheduled and proceed. Under the old Article 71(a), the President had to approve proceeding with the execution personally. Hasan’s execution may be some years off.
In 1987-88, Gray was tried, convicted, and sentenced to death. (He had already pled guilty to the crimes in state court where he was adjudged 8 life sentences.) On 28 July 2008, then President George W. Bush approved the execution under the old Article 71(a), the execution was scheduled for December 2008. However, that execution is still delayed, so here we are 35+ years after the court-martial. There are others in the pipeline–Hennis (United States v. Hennis, 79 M.J. 370 (C.A.A.F. 2020) cert. denied, Hennis v. United States, No. 20-301, 2021 U.S. LEXIS 193 (U.S. Jan. 11, 2021); Akbar (United States v. Akbar, 74 M.J. 364 (C.A.A.F. 2015) cert. denied, Akbar v. United States, 137 S. Ct. 41, 196 L. Ed. 2d 27, 2016 U.S. LEXIS 5191 (U.S., Oct. 3, 2016); but Gray remains the closest to a lethal injection at the moment. Like Bennett, Gray seems to have significant mental health issues.
The Death Penalty Information Center lists maintains this concise case capsules of every modern military death case; the following dispositions reflect that compilation, supplemented with primary records where available.
- Andrew P. Witt (Air Force) — Death sentence set aside; resentenced to life without parole (July 6, 2018). CAAF set aside Witt’s death sentence and ordered a new sentencing proceeding; the rehearing panel imposed LWOP in 2018. U.S. Courts – Armored Forces+1
- Dwight J. Loving (Army) — Death sentence commuted to life without parole by President Obama (Jan. 17, 2017); removed from death row. White House/DPIC coverage and secondary histories. Death Penalty Information Center+1
- Kenneth Parker (USMC) — Death sentence reversed; resentenced to life (2012). Death Penalty Information Center
- Wade Walker (USMC) — Death sentence; resentenced to life (Feb. 2010). Death Penalty Information Center
- Jessie Quintanilla (USMC) — Death sentence; resentenced to life without parole (2010). Death Penalty Information Center
- William Kreutzer (Army) — Death sentence; later sentence reduced to life. Death Penalty Information Center
- James T. Murphy (Army) — Death sentence; later serving life. Death Penalty Information Center
- Jose F. Simoy (Air Force) — Death sentence (1992) later overturned; serving life. (AF news release and scholarly treatment summarize the final outcome.) Air Force Medical Command+1
- Todd A. Dock (Army) — Death sentence (1984) overturned by Army Court of Military Review in 1988; convictions and sentence set aside; case reheard (ultimately not a death case). (Contemporary reporting and subsequent pay-claims litigation trace the set-aside and rehearing.) The Washington Post+1
- Melvin Turner (Army) — Death sentence (1985) overturned by the convening authority prior to appeal. Death Penalty Information Center
- Ronnie A. Curtis (USMC) — Death sentence (1987) later vacated; no longer a capital case. (DPIC list; historic press coverage.) Death Penalty Information Center+2Los Angeles Times+2
- Joseph L. Thomas (USMC) — Death sentence (1988); later proceedings removed him from death row (no longer listed among current death-row prisoners). (DPIC list and contemporaneous coverage.) DPIC
- Curtis A. Gibbs (Army) — Death sentence (1990) overturned by the convening authority prior to appeal. DPIC
B. Hasan has exhausted his appellate rights under the UCMJ. However, he still has some “legal appeals” left. He is now in what might be called the collateral review stage where he can file for a writ of habeas corpus in the Federal District Court for Kansas under 28 U.S.C. 2241 and seek a stay of execution, pending resolution of any collateral review. Note that Gray’s last two appellate cases were CAAF’s denial of a coram nobis petition in 2017 and the Supreme Court’s denial shortly after. Based on the law in the 10th circuit, his chances of success would normally be considered low to none. In the event he is denied relief then he can seek review before the Circuit Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit, and then the U.S. Supreme Court. Despite the long standing government-centric standard of review, it is likely to be a few more years before the end is nigh.