Army Maj. Nidal Hasan has been convicted of all charges in the 2009 shooting rampage at Fort Hood and is now eligible for the death penalty.
In this courtroom sketch, Maj. Nidal Hasan, second from right, sits with his standby defense attorneys Maj. Joseph Marcee, left, and Lt. Col. Kris Poppe, second from left, as presiding judge Col. Tara Osborn looks on, during Hasan's trial Thursday, Aug. 8, 2013, in Fort Hood, Texas. Hasan was allowed to continue representing himself on Thursday after the judge barred his standby attorneys from taking over, despite their claims that the Army psychiatrist was trying to secure his own death sentence. (AP)
A military panel found Hasan guilty of 13 counts of premeditated murder and 32 counts of attempted premeditated murder.
Hasan, a former Army psychiatrist who acted as his own attorney during the trial, admitted to opening fire in a crowded waiting room full of unarmed soldiers preparing to deploy to Iraq and Afghanistan. Thirteen people were killed and more than 32 injured.
Survivors described scenes of terror, including Fort Hood police Sgt. Kimberly Munley, who received a call of shots fired and was feet away from Hasan as they both pointed their guns at each other. Munley testified that she spotted someone with a gun and began shooting at him, then took cover as he turned in her direction.
“I realized he was not slowing down whatsoever,” she testified. “He rounded the corner and within eight feet or so, we blindly began to exchange fire.”
“When I fell to the ground, the shooter was closer to me,” she said. “I tried to continue to fire. My weapon would not fire. Some sort of malfunction in my weapon. I see him standing over me, trying to shoot me.”
Her colleague, Sgt. Mark Todd, yelled for Hasan to drop his weapon and then fired his own gun, paralyzing Hasan from the waist down.
Hasan, a U.S.-born Muslim, initially tried to argue that he shot the soldiers to protect Taliban leaders in Afghanistan.
The court proceedings saw numerous interruptions over the past several months over Hasan's beard, which he said he grew as a mark of his Muslim faith but was prohibited under military regulations.
Survivors of the shooting have fought to have it classified as terrorism instead of "workplace violence" as it was labeled by the U.S. government.
A lengthy appeals process is expected and it will likely be years before a death sentence is carried out.
The last time an American soldier was executed was in 1961.
This post has been updated.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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