Capital Punishment By The United States Military - Sentencing and Execution

Sentencing and Execution

Capital cases are tried in courts-martial before a panel of at least twelve military members. If the defendant is an enlisted servicemember, they 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. The panel must be unanimous in conviction, that the government has proven necessary aggravating factors, that the aggravating factors outweigh the mitigating factors, and that death is the only sentence applicable. 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 January 17, 2006, and would ordinarily take place at the Special Housing Unit of the United States Disciplinary Barracks, Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, although alternative locations are possible (such as the Federal Correctional Complex, Terre Haute, where federal civilian death row inmates are housed and executed). Of five convicted servicemen awaiting execution, four are confined at the Special Housing Unit and one at Camp Lejeune, all of whom have been convicted of premeditated murder or felony murder.

Until 1961, the last military execution to date, hanging was the sole and official method. Later, the military introduced the electric chair, which was never used. Currently, lethal injection is the sole method.