Capital punishment by the United States military

The use of capital punishment by the United States military is a legal penalty in martial criminal justice. Despite its legality, capital punishment has not been imposed by the U.S. military in over sixty years.

Reinstatement of the military death penalty

The United States Court of Appeals for the Armed Forces ruled in 1983 that the military death penalty was unconstitutional, and after new standards intended to rectify the Armed Forces Court of Appeals' objections, the military death penalty was reinstated by an executive order of President Ronald Reagan the following year.The U.S. Military Death Penalty
''Death Penalty Information Center''

On 28 July 2008, President George W. Bush approved the execution of Former United States Army Private Ronald A. Gray, who had been convicted in April 1988 of multiple murders and rapes. A month later, Secretary of the Army Pete Geren set an execution date of 10 December 2008 and ordered that Gray be put to death by lethal injection at the Federal Correctional Complex, Terre Haute. The military publicly released Gray's execution date on 20 November 2008. On 26 November, however, Gray was granted a stay of execution by U.S. District Judge Richard Rogers of Kansas. In December 2016, a Kansas federal judge, US District Judge J. Thomas Marten, lifted Gray's stay, moving Gray one step closer to becoming the U.S. military's first death sentence carried out since 1961.

The U.S. Military currently has four inmates (all men) on death row, the most recent being Nidal Hasan, who murdered 13 people and injured 32 others during the 2009 Fort Hood shooting.

Capital crimes

Currently, under the Uniform Code of Military Justice, 14 offenses are punishable by death. Under the following sections of the UCMJ, the death penalty can be imposed in both times of war and peace:

* 94 – Mutiny or sedition
* 99 – Misbehavior before the enemy
* 100 – Subordinate compelling surrender
* 101 – Improper use of countersign
* 102 – Forcing a safeguard
* 103a – Espionage
* 104 – Aiding the enemy
* 110 – Improper hazarding of vessel
* 118 – Murder
* 120 – Rape

Another four provisions of the UCMJ carry a death sentence only if the crime is committed during times of war:

* 85 – Desertion
* 90 – Assaulting or willfully disobeying a superior commissioned officer
* 106 – Lurking as a spy or acting as a spy
* 113 – Misbehavior of a sentinel or lookout

Legal process

Capital cases are tried in courts-martial before a panel of at least 12 military members. If the defendant is an enlisted service member, he or she may opt for at least one-third of the panel to also be of enlisted rank. All members of the panel must outrank the accused. The defendant cannot plead guilty to the charges. A two-thirds majority is enough for conviction, but unanimity is required to issue a death sentence during the penalty phase of the proceeding.

All death sentences are automatically appealed, first to the Court of Criminal Appeals for the military service concerned, then to the United States Court of Appeals for the Armed Forces. The sentence must be personally confirmed by the President of the United States.

Military executions would be conducted under regulations issued on 17 January 2006, and would ordinarily take place at the Special Housing Unit of the United States Disciplinary Barracks (USDB), Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, although alternative locations are possible (such as the Federal Correctional Complex, Terre Haute, Indiana, where federal civilian death-row inmates are housed and executed). Of four convicted servicemen awaiting execution, three are confined at the USDB's Special Housing Unit and one at Camp Lejeune, all of whom have been convicted of murder.

Prior to 1991, the methods of execution approved by Headquarters, Department of the Army were hanging, firing squad (musketry) or electrocution. Electrocution was added as an option in the 1950s but could only be used at a specific confinement facility designated by Headquarters, and only be performed by a professional civilian executioner. An electric chair was installed at the old United States Disciplinary Barracks at Ft. Leavenworth, KS, but was never used. The last military execution occurred in 1961 by hanging. Currently, lethal injection is the only method.

Separately, military commissions may be also established in the field in time of war to expeditiously try and sentence enemy military personnel under the UCMJ for certain offenses. Controversially, the Military Commissions Act of 2009 allows military commissions to try and sentence alien unprivileged enemy belligerent accused of having engaged in or purposefully and materially support dhostilities against the United States or its allies, without the benefit of some UCMJ protections. In a military commission trial, the death penalty may only be imposed in case of a unanimous verdict and sentencing decision.

Previous use

The Creek War

In 1814, Private John Wood was executed by a firing squad for assaulting a superior officer.

American Civil War

Union General William Rosecrans approved the court-martial and hanging of two Confederate officers, Lawrence Orton Williams and Walter Peters, on June 9, 1863 at Franklin, Tennessee, after the duo had disguised themselves as Union officers for the purposes of spying.

On June 20, 1864, Union Army deserter William Johnson was hanged in Petersburg, Virginia.

On March 15, 1865, Confederate captain Marcellus Jerome Clarke

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