The prosecutors handing the 13-count murder charges against Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan, announced this week they will seek the death penalty against him.
With this being in the news today, I thought I'd explain when the law allows the prosecutors to seek the death penalty and when it does
Here in South Carolina, there are 12 different circumstances in which the prosecution can seek the death penalty. If one of these 12 situations does not exist, then the prosecution has no legal grounds for the death penalty and the worse the defendant can be sentenced to is life in prison.
In order for one of the 12 situations to apply, the murder must have happened in relation something else. For example, if the defendant committed murder while in the act of kidnaping, criminal sexual conduct (rape) or robbery with a deadly weapon, the death penalty would apply. These are specific crimes and there are several more that applies. It also depends on who the victim was. They can seek the death penalty if the victim was a law enforcement officer, a judicial officer such as a solicitor, judge, lawyer, or other officer of the court, who was killed in connection to performing their official duties, and this includes their family members. There are several more instances of who the person was that would give rise to this.
The media almost never explains any of this. They report on the crime and they state when someone will be seeking the death penalty, but they never seem to elaborate on why one person is facing it and not another.
