[JURIST] Sgt. Hasan Akbar [Wikipedia profile], the US soldier convicted of premeditated murder and attempted premeditated murder [JURIST story] for attacking comrades with a rifle and grenades in Kuwait during the early stages of the Iraq invasion, was sentenced to death by a military jury on Thursday. Two officers were killed and fourteen others were injured in the attack. The jury, which took seven hours to decide on the punishment, could have sentenced Akbar to life in prison without parole. Before the jury deliberation, Akbar gave a brief but barely audible apology where he asked for the jury's forgiveness. The sentence will now be reviewed by a commanding officer and also will be automatically appealed. If the sentence is upheld, Akbar will be executed by lethal injection. Akbar, who will be the sixth person on the military's death row, would be the first American since the Vietnam era to be prosecuted on charges of murdering a fellow soldier during wartime. The last US military execution was in 1961. AP has more.