Sergeant Hassan Akbar was born Mark Fidel Kools in the United States. He studied at the University of California, Davis taking a double major in aeronautical and mechanical engineering, and graduating with a bachelor's degree.

After joining the United States Army, he was assigned to the 326th Engineer Battalion of the 101st Airborne, and was eventually deployed to Kuwait.

He was charged in a grenade and shooting attack that killed two U.S. officers and wounded 14 soldiers on March 23, 2003. The attack took place at Camp Pennsylvania, Kuwait, a rear base camp for the U.S. invasion of Iraq. News reports at the time claimed that Akbar had been recently reprimanded for insubordination and was told he would not join his unit's push into Iraq.

Akbar is charged with two counts of premeditated murder and three counts of attempted premeditated murder. If convicted he could receive the death penalty. Prosecutors allege that his diary entries and his actions (stealing grenades and turning off the generator that lit the camp) showed that the attack was premeditated.

In a diary entry dated February 4, 2003, Akbar referred to mistreatment by his fellow soldiers: "I suppose they want to punk me or just humiliate me. Perhaps they feel that I will not do anything about that. They are right about that. I am not going to do anything about it as long as I stay here. But as soon as I am in Iraq, I am going to try and kill as many of them as possible."

Although Akbar confessed to the crimes, his lawyers are claiming that he had a history of mental illness which was known to the military. During jury selection, the defence lawyers were said to favor jurors who have had experience dealing with mental illness. Akbar also suffers from sleep apnea and has fallen asleep several times during court proceedings.

He will be judged by nine officers, with ranks from colonel to major, and six senior sergeants. There are 13 men and two women.

His court-martial marks the first time since the Vietnam War that a soldier has been prosecuted for the murder of another soldier during wartime.