A 15-mem­ber mil­i­tary jury sen­tenced Sgt. Hasan Akbar to death for killing 2 U.S. mil­i­tary offi­cers in Kuwait in 2003 dur­ing the open­ing days of the Iraq inva­sion. At his sen­tenc­ing, Akbar said, ​“I want to apol­o­gize for the attack that occurred. I felt that my life was in jeop­ardy, and I had no oth­er options. I also want to ask you for for­give­ness.” He is the first American since the Vietnam era to be pros­e­cut­ed for mur­der­ing a fel­low sol­dier in wartime. (N.Y. Times, April 29, 2005 (AP)).

No one has been exe­cut­ed under the mil­i­tary’s death penal­ty since 1961. There are 7 oth­er sol­diers fac­ing pos­si­ble exe­cu­tion, includ­ing two who have had their death sen­tences reversed on appeal. Seven of the eight (87%) sol­diers now on death row are mem­bers of racial minorities. 

See Military Death Penalty.

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