( CNN ) -- A U.S. Army general Wednesday approved a possible death penalty in the future military trial of Maj. Nidal Hasan , the American Muslim accused of killing 13 people at Fort Hood , Texas , in 2009 . Lt. Gen. Donald Campbell , the Fort Hood commander , formally announced that the charges against Hasan will be tried as capital offenses in a general court-martial . His decision means that if a panel of military officers finds Hasan guilty , they can consider the death penalty as a possible sentence . Campbell 's decision moves the case forward and also eliminates the possibility that Hasan , a psychiatrist , could enter a guilty plea and prevent a costly and lengthy trial . A court-martial could be months away . `` After a referral of a case to trial by court-martial , a military judge will receive the case and at some future date , set a schedule , '' said a statement from Fort Hood on Wednesday . `` The first likely matter for a military judge to schedule in this court-martial is the arraignment of Hasan . No military judge has been named to this case at this time . '' A capital court-martial is highly unusual . The last military execution in the United States took place in 1961 . Hasan is accused of killing 13 people and wounding 32 others in November 2009 . Witnesses at a preliminary hearing identified him as the man who calmly walked through a medical building on the country 's largest military base , shooting and frequently reloading his handgun as he shouted `` Allah Akbar , '' which means `` God is great '' in Arabic . Hasan 's government-appointed defense lawyer , John Galligan , had urged the military against allowing the death penalty as a possible sentence in a trial . Galligan met behind closed doors with Army officials in mid-May to argue that the case should not have the possibility of the death penalty , and described his meeting with Campbell as very cordial . `` The law accepts life without the opportunity of parole as an appropriate punishment for murder , '' Galligan said . `` We had an opportunity to make our compelling argument that the ( Hasan ) case should be referred noncapital . '' Galligan was at the jail Wednesday morning , meeting his client , when the prosecution delivered papers to him informing him that the court-martial would proceed with a possible death penalty . The defense attorney said he was not properly informed in advance and was not provided with the necessary documents by the prosecution . `` It is a sad , sad day to see how they are proceeding , '' Galligan told CNN by telephone . `` They continue to use these tactics that are a denigration of the defendant 's right to due process . '' Galligan has previously said that a noncapital trial for his client would be quicker and cheaper . And he repeatedly has complained that he and his client have been denied full details of what U.S. intelligence agencies knew about Hasan 's contacts with overseas terrorists , including Anwar al-Alwaki , an American-born cleric now believed to be in Yemen and to be the target of American drone attacks . Hasan , who is partially paralyzed and confined to a wheelchair after being shot by police responding to the rampage , is being held in a county jail near Fort Hood . Last week , the Obama administration 's top anti-terrorism official pointed to the Fort Hood killings as an example of how extremists overseas were inspiring or assisting violent attacks inside the United States . `` It is al Qaeda 's adherents -- individuals , sometimes with little or no direct physical contact with al Qaeda , who have succumbed to its hateful ideology and who have engaged in , or facilitated , terrorist activities here in the United States , '' John Brennan , assistant to the president for homeland security and counterterrorism , said in a speech in Washington on June 29 . `` These misguided individuals are spurred on by the likes of al Qaeda 's Adam Gadahn and Anwar al-Awlaki in Yemen , who speak English and preach violence in slick videos over the Internet , '' Brennan said . `` And we have seen the tragic results , with the murder of a military recruiter in Arkansas two years ago and the attack on our servicemen and women at Fort Hood . '' Brennan said the shootings at Fort Hood and the attempted bombing of an airliner in December 2009 had prompted new vigilance by U.S. intelligence . `` Following the attack at Fort Hood and the failed attack over Detroit , we 've improved the analytic process , created new groups to track threat information , and enhanced cooperation among our intelligence agencies , including better information sharing so that all threats are acted upon quickly . '' An investigation by two senior U.S. senators called Hasan `` a ticking time bomb '' and faulted both the military and federal agents for not raising the alarm sooner about his links to overseas terrorists and possible violence . `` Although neither the Department of Defense nor the FBI had specific information concerning the time , place , or nature of the attack , they collectively had sufficient information to have detected Hasan 's radicalization to violent Islamist extremism but failed both to understand and to act on it , '' that report said . The Army admitted problems with how it had evaluated and promoted Hasan and disciplined nine officers for `` administrative and leadership failures '' in not spreading the alarm about Hasan before the attacks .
Maj. Brennan is accused of killing 32 people in a November 2009 shooting at Fort Hood . His lawyer had argued against allowing the death penalty as a possible sentence . al Qaeda 's is partially paralyzed after being shot by police responding to the rampage .