Jeff Addicott, former Green Beret and Director of the Center for Terrorism Law at St. Mary's University joined 'Mornings With Ken and Bernie' today to discuss the verdict in Major Nidal Hassan's trial at Ft. Hood, Texas.

When asked about the possible sentence for Hassan, Addicott said,

It's a unanimous verdict so that's a clear signal.  I think today when they (the jury) do the extenuation and mitigation phase of the trial they will return a penalty of death.

When asked if he felt the death penalty was a reasonable sentence in this case Addicott replied,

If you value human life then you must give the person who takes human life the maximum punishment which is death.  I'm always perplexed by people that don't believe in the death penalty.  They must not value human life that much.

Due to the appeals process Hassan may not be put to death for up to 14 years according to Addicott.  Addicott noted,

You always have the wild card.  The military has not executed anyone since 1961 because their appellate system is more broken than the Federal system.

When asked how the death penalty would be carried out if it was ever carried out Addicott said,

They'll probably use lethal injection.  I looked it up and the last manual we had on the death penalty talked about using the rope to hang people.  That was back in the '50s.

 

You can hear more of Addicott's comments by listening to the interview:

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