The president of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops has condemned the Pentagon’s plan to livestream the upcoming firing squad execution of Fort Hood shooter Nidal Malik Hasan. Coakley in a statement on Friday called the decision “a barbaric promotion of a culture of death” that would “only further undermine the moral fabric of our nation.” A Pentagon official told Newsweek earlier on Friday that Hasan’s December execution would be livestreamed and that more details will follow, after Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said in an interview that it would be “public.” “It is with shock and great sorrow that I have learned of the Department of War’s decision to publicly livestream” Hasan’s execution, Coakley said. The public execution even of one who has done grave harm will only further undermine the moral fabric of our nation and be a blight on the conscience of its people.
The last public executions in the U.S. took place in the 1930s. The news has also raised further questions about how the death penalty is carried out in the U.S. following the botched execution of Christa Pike in Tennessee last week. Polls have found support for the death penalty has been on the decline nationally over the last two decades.
Robin Maher, executive director of the Death Penalty Information Center (DPIC), told Newsweek that the center has no record of any execution in the U.S. being livestreamed. "Our records indicate the last public execution was in the 1930s. We have no record of any execution being live streamed," she said.
It will terrorize, and is beneath the dignity that we owe to anyone, even those who commit the kind of horrific crime that Nidal Hasan did.” The Army announced earlier this week that Hasan’s execution will take place at Fort Hood, Texas, at 1p.m. on December 3. Hasan, a former Army psychiatrist who held the rank of major, was convicted of killing 13 people and wounding more than 30 others in a 2009 shooting rampage at the military base. He acknowledged during his court-martial that he was the shooter and said he had “switched sides.” The Army said Hasan's appellate process was completed after the U.S.
Supreme Court denied his request for review in March 2025. President Donald Trump, a strong supporter of capital punishment, approved the death sentence on October 2, giving the Army authority to set the execution date. The execution would be the first carried out by the U.S. military since 1961, when John A Bennett was hanged for rape and attempted murder on April 13.
The last military execution by firing squad was that of Army Private Eddie Slovik, who was executed for desertion in France in 1945. Lawmakers from both sides of the political aisle have criticized the plans to livestream Hasan’s execution. "Hasan should face the death penalty, but making his execution public and streaming it?
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