Army to execute four inmates if Trump approves
The U.S. Army said it is **not preparing to carry out executions** for its four military death row inmates, pushing back on ABC News reports that it had drawn up plans awaiting President Donald Trump’s approval. An Army spokesperson told the *Washington Examiner* that any activities related to execution are **routine, long-standing drills** conducted for about **20 years** as part of contingency planning if a President ever approved a death sentence.
The spokesperson noted that there are four inmates at the **U.S. disciplinary Barracks** and explained that the Secretary of the Army is the department’s designated executive agent for Level III corrections, which includes providing a facility for military executions. The spokesperson also said the President has **not taken action** to authorize executions.
The article adds that military death sentences cannot be carried out without **presidential approval**, and the **last U.S. military execution** occurred in **1961**. It mentions War Secretary **Pete Hegseth** has publicly supported executing **Nidal Hasan**. It also identifies other inmates, including **Ronald Gray**, whose execution received presidential approval in 2008 but was blocked by federal court decisions, and **Timothy Hennis**, whose conviction eventually stood after earlier state-court developments and later DNA-based evidence helped prosecutors pursue the case again.
The U.S. Army said they are not preparing to carry out executions for the military’s four death row inmates, rejecting reports that they were making moves to execute the inmates.
A story by ABC News said that the Army had drawn up plans to execute its inmates on death row, awaiting President Donald Trump’s order to do so. However, an Army spokesperson told the Washington Examiner that any preparations for execution were part of routine drills conducted for the past 20 years.
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“There are currently four death sentence inmates at the U.S. Disciplinary Barracks,” the Army spokesperson said. “The Secretary of the Army is the Department of War’s designated Executive Agent for Level III Corrections, which includes the responsibility to provide a facility for military executions.”
“Exercises regarding this operation have been conducted regularly for the past twenty years. These drills are a standard component of our continued planning and preparation if the President approves a death sentence,” the spokesperson said, adding that the president had not taken action.
Although military courts can impose death sentences, executions cannot proceed without presidential approval. The last military execution took place in 1961, when Pvt. John Bennett was put to death after being convicted of raping and attempting to murder an 11-year-old girl.
War Secretary Pete Hegseth has publicly voiced support for carrying out at least one of the pending military death sentences.
“I am 100 percent committed to ensuring the death penalty is carried out for Nidal Hasan,” Hegseth said in a statement to The Hill in September, “This savage terrorist deserves the harshest lawful punishment for his 2009 mass shooting at Fort Hood. The victims and survivors deserve justice without delays.”
In addition to Hasan, the Army’s death row includes Ronald Gray, a former Army specialist and cook assigned to the 82nd Airborne Division at Fort Bragg, North Carolina.
Gray was convicted in 1988 on 14 charges, including three counts of premeditated murder, attempted murder and three counts of rape. In 2008, former President George W. Bush approved Gray’s execution and set an execution date for December of that year. A federal judge halted the execution before it could be carried out, and the stay remained in place until another judge lifted it in 2016. Gray remains the only military death row inmate whose execution has received presidential approval.
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Another inmate, former Master Sgt. Timothy Hennis, was convicted by a military court for the 1985 rape and murder of a woman and the murders of her two young daughters in North Carolina.
Hennis was initially convicted in state court in 1986, but the conviction was overturned on appeal because of evidentiary issues. He was acquitted at a 1989 retrial. Years later, advances in DNA testing allowed investigators to analyze preserved evidence that had not been testable during the original proceedings, leading military prosecutors to pursue the case and ultimately secure a conviction.
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