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| Fort Hood jury deliberates sentence for Maj Nidal Hasan | Fort Hood jury deliberates sentence for Maj Nidal Hasan |
| (35 minutes later) | |
| A military jury is weighing whether a former US Army psychiatrist convicted of killing 13 soldiers at a Texas Army base should be sentenced to death. | A military jury is weighing whether a former US Army psychiatrist convicted of killing 13 soldiers at a Texas Army base should be sentenced to death. |
| Maj Nidal Hasan, 42, was convicted last week of the 2009 shooting rampage at Fort Hood, which injured 30 others. | |
| The defendant tried to admit multiple murder charges, but military rules ban guilty pleas in death penalty cases. | The defendant tried to admit multiple murder charges, but military rules ban guilty pleas in death penalty cases. |
| The Virginia-born Muslim said he opened fire to protect Taliban insurgents from troops about to deploy to Afghanistan. | The Virginia-born Muslim said he opened fire to protect Taliban insurgents from troops about to deploy to Afghanistan. |
| His court-appointed lawyers have previously told the judge they believed he is seeking execution in a bid for martyrdom. | His court-appointed lawyers have previously told the judge they believed he is seeking execution in a bid for martyrdom. |
| But on Wednesday, prosecutor Col Mike Mulligan urged jurors to opt for a rare military death penalty. | But on Wednesday, prosecutor Col Mike Mulligan urged jurors to opt for a rare military death penalty. |
| "He will not now and he will never be a martyr," Col Mulligan said of Maj Hasan. "He is a criminal. He is a cold-blooded murderer. | "He will not now and he will never be a martyr," Col Mulligan said of Maj Hasan. "He is a criminal. He is a cold-blooded murderer. |
| "This is not his gift to God. This is his debt to society. This is the cost of his murderous rampage." | "This is not his gift to God. This is his debt to society. This is the cost of his murderous rampage." |
| Maj Hasan, who has represented himself, declined to speak on his own behalf, saying only: "I have no closing statement." | |
| For the 13-member panel to recommend that the judge sentence Maj Hasan to death, it must come to a unanimous agreement. | |
| If the panel members do not agree, he will face a life sentence in prison. | |
| The US military has not executed a service member since 1961. There are five inmates on the US military's death row at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, all at various stages of the appeals process. | |
| Maj Hasan opened fire at a medical facility on the Fort Hood base where soldiers were being evaluated before deploying overseas. | |
| The trial heard he had prepared carefully for the attack, during which he fired 146 bullets. | |
| The shooting spree ended when he was shot by a civilian police officer. | |
| He was paralysed from the waist down from the wound and now uses a wheelchair. |