Fort Hood shooting: Nidal Hasan case timeline

23 August 2013

The shooting led to a murder conviction

Nearly four years after the attack, a military court-martial found Hasan guilty of 13 counts of premeditated murder and 32 counts of attempted premeditated murder. The verdict established his criminal responsibility for the killings; the panel still had to decide his punishment.

Hasan represented himself at trial. He acknowledged being the shooter in his opening statement and presented no defence witnesses. The attempted-murder count was not a headcount of people shot: the later appeal judgment explains that 31 people were wounded by gunfire, while another police officer was targeted but not hit.

Conviction and death sentence · Army · 3 September 2013 · Contemporaneous sentence report · ABC News · 28 August 2013 · Appeal judgment · Court of Appeals for the Armed Forces · 4 March 2024

28 August 2013

The death sentence began another legal process

Five days after the verdict, the panel sentenced Hasan to death. It also ordered forfeiture of his pay and allowances and dismissal from the Army. He was held at the military prison at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, while the case moved into appeals.

A death sentence in the military did not mean an execution date would immediately follow. The Army’s contemporary account explained that review by the Army Court of Criminal Appeals and the Court of Appeals for the Armed Forces was automatic. Those proceedings became the next stage of a case that would continue for more than a decade.

Conviction and death sentence · Army · 3 September 2013 · Contemporaneous sentence report · ABC News · 28 August 2013

10 April 2015

The victims received recognition after an eligibility change

While Hasan’s case continued, the people he had attacked were fighting a different battle: recognition of their injuries and losses. After Congress broadened the eligibility rules, victims and relatives received Purple Hearts and the civilian equivalent, the Defense of Freedom Medal, at Fort Hood.

The Army said further local ceremonies would recognise people unable to receive their awards at the main event. For the military and civilian recipients, the change acknowledged sacrifices that the earlier rules had not recognised in the same way. It did not bring the criminal proceedings to an end.

Purple Heart and civilian medal ceremony · Army · 13 April 2015

14 April 2015 · memorandum

Recognition also opened the way to related benefits

The medal decision had consequences beyond the ceremony. In a memorandum, Army Secretary John McHugh directed that recipients under the expanded criteria receive the related benefits for which they were eligible. The Army publicly described that direction three days later.

The measures included hostile-fire pay for eligible recipients killed or wounded in the attack, and combat-related special compensation for retired soldiers whose qualifying disability arose from the injury. McHugh also ordered a review of possible additional entitlements. The announcement established a direction to provide benefits; it did not publish an individual payment record for every recipient.

Benefits direction · Army · 17 April 2015

4 March 2024

The military appeals court upheld the judgment

The Court of Appeals for the Armed Forces affirmed the lower court’s judgment, leaving the convictions and death sentence intact. Its opinion considered Hasan’s challenges to the proceedings, including his decision to represent himself.

This was a review of the court-martial record, not a new trial or the scheduling of an execution. The judgment kept the sentence in place, but another possible stage remained: Hasan could ask the US Supreme Court to take the case.

Appeal judgment · Court of Appeals for the Armed Forces · 4 March 2024 · Supreme Court docket 24-5225 · review denied 31 March 2025

31 March 2025

The Supreme Court declined to take the case

The Supreme Court denied Hasan’s petition seeking review of the military appellate decision. The entry appears in the public docket for case 24-5225. The Court did not issue a new ruling on the merits of each argument; it declined to hear the appeal.

That left the military judgment in place. Carrying out the sentence still required presidential approval, a separate requirement from the courts’ handling of the conviction and sentence.

Supreme Court docket 24-5225 · review denied 31 March 2025 · Presidential approval and execution schedule · Army · 7 October 2026

2 October 2026

Trump approved the death sentence

President Donald Trump approved Hasan’s death sentence, according to the Army’s subsequent announcement. The approval moved the case from an upheld sentence towards the process for carrying it out.

The Army said the president alone has authority to approve a military prisoner’s death sentence. Its execution rules require the Army secretary to choose a date between 60 and 150 days after that approval.

Presidential approval and execution schedule · Army · 7 October 2026 · Execution announcement · Reuters via MarketScreener · 6 October 2026

6 October 2026

A firing-squad execution was scheduled for December

Acting Army Secretary Adam Telle directed execution by firing squad at Fort Hood on 3 December 2026, at 1pm Central Standard Time. The Army published the schedule the next day. The planned location would return Hasan to the base where the attack took place.

The date was a substantial change after years on death row. It remained a scheduled event. ABC News reported that his civilian lawyer, John Galligan, said a further challenge to his detention in federal court was a possibility; no decision to pursue it had been announced in that report.

Presidential approval and execution schedule · Army · 7 October 2026 · Execution announcement · Reuters via MarketScreener · 6 October 2026 · Livestream and possible further legal challenge · ABC News · 8 October 2026

8 October 2026

The Pentagon announced a public livestream

The execution plan then became a new national controversy. A Pentagon official said it would be livestreamed, while Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said he intended people to be able to watch. Reuters and ABC News separately reported the announcement.

That introduced a question distinct from the sentence itself: whether the government should broadcast an execution to the public. The proposal brought the punishment into public view in a new way, drawing responses from survivors as well as disagreement within the administration.

Livestream announcement · Reuters and Military Times · 8 October 2026 · Livestream and possible further legal challenge · ABC News · 8 October 2026

9 October 2026

Vance questioned whether the broadcast would happen

Vice President JD Vance said he did not know whether the livestream would actually take place and that he would not watch it if it did. His comments, reported by AP, showed uncertainty inside the administration about the broadcast announced by the Pentagon.

The uncertainty concerned public transmission. It was not an announcement cancelling the execution date.

Vance questions broadcast plan · AP · 9 October 2026

10 October 2026 · interviews published

Survivors did not speak with one voice about the livestream

ABC News spoke to survivors whose reactions were more complicated than simple support or opposition. Alonzo Lunsford welcomed the execution plan and intended to attend, but said any broadcast should be limited to survivors and bereaved families rather than offered to the wider public.

Dayna Ferguson told the broadcaster that the livestream proposal was unexpected and that she was still arranging to attend. Their accounts showed why agreement about Hasan’s punishment did not necessarily mean agreement about making it a public broadcast.

Survivors respond · ABC News · 10 October 2026

10 October 2026

Trump said he would make the final broadcast decision

Trump then said he had not made a final decision on the livestream. Speaking to reporters at the White House, he said he was considering both showing and not showing the execution, NBC News reported. He said the ultimate decision would be his.

Those comments qualified the impression created by the Pentagon’s announcement two days earlier. At that point, the Army had set an execution date, while the public broadcast remained undecided. Neither had taken place.

Trump says final broadcast decision remains his · NBC News via AOL · 10 October 2026

15 October 2026

Trump calls off the public livestream

Five days after saying the final decision was his, Trump announced that Hasan’s execution would not be livestreamed. Reuters reported that he kept the scheduled execution in place and said immediate families of the victims could choose to attend in person.

The Pentagon’s response confirmed the change in the broadcast plan. Spokesperson Sean Parnell told ABC News that Trump and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth had discussed the decision before the announcement, and that Hegseth supported it. The earlier proposal to show the execution publicly was no longer the announced policy.

This answers the immediate question about the livestream. It does not mean the sentence has been carried out: 3 December is still ahead. The convictions, victims’ recognition and appellate history remain distinct from that final scheduled step.

Trump calls off livestream · Reuters via Navy Times · 15 October 2026 · Pentagon response and survivors’ reactions · ABC News / Good Morning America · 15 October 2026

3 December 2026 · scheduled

The next milestone is still in the future

The next announced milestone is the scheduled execution. The earlier conviction and sentence are established outcomes, but the final stage of the punishment remains pending. These are the distinctions that matter as the date approaches:

The Army’s announced plan is execution by firing squad at Fort Hood at 1pm CST.
Trump said on 15 October that there will be no public livestream.
Hasan’s lawyer told ABC News that a further federal court challenge was possible. His comments did not change the announced execution date.

Presidential approval and execution schedule · Army · 7 October 2026 · Livestream and possible further legal challenge · ABC News · 8 October 2026 · Trump calls off livestream · Reuters via Navy Times · 15 October 2026 · Pentagon response and survivors’ reactions · ABC News / Good Morning America · 15 October 2026

The evidence

Sources for this update

Where the story stands

The sentence stands. The execution is still pending.

The conviction, death sentence and later recognition of victims are established parts of the record. The announced public livestream has been cancelled, while the execution remains scheduled for 3 December 2026. Whether it takes place as scheduled remains unresolved. A decision about broadcasting the event is not the carrying out of the sentence.

Stay updated

Fort Hood: how Hasan’s death sentence reached a December execution date

The first reports captured an unfolding attack

The execution is scheduled. The public livestream has been called off.

The story, in dates