Fort Hood Shooter's Execution by Firing Squad Could Influence Future US Executions

The planned firing squad execution of Nidal Malik Hasan, the perpetrator of the 2009 Fort Hood mass shooting, could signal a shift towards increased use of this method for capital punishment across the United States, according to a leading death penalty expert.

"I think it's highly likely that if firing squad is successful here and successful in quotes because we still don't always know what a person is going through, but let's say it's a very quick execution, that it seems conceivable that it would be used on other inmates as well," said Fordham Law Professor Deborah Denno, an expert on capital punishment, in comments to Fox News Digital.

Hasan is scheduled to be executed by firing squad on December 3. He was sentenced to death in 2013 for the 2009 attack at the Army base, which resulted in 13 deaths and 32 injuries. The Pentagon confirmed that the execution would be livestreamed.

Denno noted that the firing squad is generally considered a more certain and quicker method of execution. "It's considered to be the, what I call the least inhumane method of execution," she stated. She also pointed to the availability of individuals with shooting expertise. "We have an endless supply of people who are experts in shooting, either professionally, because they're a police officer, corrections officer, or something like that. But we also have people are who are excellent, superb markspeople too, because that's a hobby or whatever. So this is, it's not difficult finding somebody who's willing to do this."

The last U.S. military execution occurred on April 13, 1961, when Pvt. John A. Bennett was hanged at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, after being convicted of rape and attempted murder. Previously, Denno has identified the firing squad as the most humane and effective means of execution with a history of few complications in the U.S.

Recent years have seen a resurgence of interest in the firing squad among states that retain capital punishment, driven by concerns over the diminishing availability of lethal injection drugs and the reliability of that method. Last week, a death row inmate in Tennessee survived two doses of pentobarbital, raising further questions about lethal injection protocols.

States such as Idaho, Utah, and South Carolina have recently embraced the firing squad as a potential execution method. However, questions arose last year surrounding the South Carolina execution of Mikal Mahdi, who was convicted of killing two people in 2004. Mahdi, who chose the firing squad, was reportedly struck by only two bullets, not the intended three to the heart, leading to concerns about a prolonged death process, according to his defense's forensic pathologist.

Denno acknowledged the Mahdi case as a "troublesome outcome" and suggested it warrants attention as Hasan's execution approaches. "This seems to be a really troublesome outcome, so it's just something to pay attention to on December 3," she said.