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The Temple Daily Telegram via AP/Bell County Sheriff's Dept.
Nidal Hasan, accused in the Nov. 2009 Fort Hood shootings that killed 13 people, undated.
Maj. Nidal Hasan, the Army psychiatrist accused of carrying out the November 2009 shooting spree at Fort Hood in Texas, sought to plead guilty Wednesday to 13 counts of premeditated murder but the judge said he could not accept the plea, the Temple Daily Telegram reported.
Under military law, Hasan is not allowed to plead guilty because the premeditated murder charges carry death as the maximum sentence and the government is pursuing the death penalty in Hasan's case.
The Telegram, providing live updates from the courtroom, reported that military judge Col. Gregory Gross said Hasan wanted to plead guilty to the capital counts. (Gross) "explained he is prohibited from accepting such a plea," according to Telegram reporter Paul Romer.
"The motion apparently indicated Hasan wished to plead guilty to take responsibility for his actions."
"There is no right to plead guilty...The accused could still take responsibility for his actions — Judge Gross."
"Judge Gross said he would enter not guilty pleas in behalf of Hasan, if necessary."
"Hasan apparently claimed not being allowed to plead guilty violated his religious beliefs, which Gross disagreed with."
Military law would allow Hasan to plead guilty to lesser murder charges that do not carry the death penalty, the AP reported. But that scenario was unlikely because efforts to reach a plea deal failed over a year ago, it reported, citing John Galligan, a civilian attorney who represented Hasan before leaving the defense team in 2011.
It's been nearly three years since Hasan allegedly opened fire on personnel at a medical facility on the Texas Army post, leaving 13 dead and 32 wounded.
The trial for Hasan — scheduled to start on Monday — was put on hold because of another dispute in the military court. Hasan has appealed the court's orders to shave his face to comply with military law, saying his beard is a requirement of his Muslim faith, the Associated Press reported.
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On Tuesday, Gross also denied a motion by the defense to exclude testimony by Evan Kohlman, a specialist on "homegrown terrorism," who was on the list of prosecution witnesses.
On Wednesday, for the fifth time, the judge started the hearing with a contempt charge against Hasan and fined him $1,000, for showing up unshaven.
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Leave a Comment:
Guys, you don't get it. He wants to die so he can be a martyr and claim his allotment of 72 virgins waiting up in heaven. Not that different from the Christian nutcases awaiting the "rapture."
The amount of hatred and malice in this thread is nothing short of sickening and those of you posting it should be ashamed of yourself. Did he do bad things? Yes, he did very bad things. Should he be punished for those action? Of course he should. That is the kind of society we live in. However, that being said, who are you to dictate what happens to a man? Does getting on a message board and saying things like the following make you feel better about yourself?:
"Surprised he can not be forcibly shaved..Take him out his wheelchair, get a k-bar and dry shave him."
"He doesn't want to shave his beard so just burn it off. Really who gives a rats a$$ what he wants."
"Put a noose around his neck and kick the wheel chair out from under him !"
You should be ashamed of yourselves. How could you condemn someone of their heinous crimes and their blatant disregard for their rights of other human beings yet wish to visit them upon the same person? He may be a killer but when you start feeling hatred for the killer, you are really no better than them. Do I think he should be put to death? Not sure, to be perfectly honest. I have always been kind of ambivalent about the death penalty. I neither like nor dislike it. This is because I do not feel I have the right, as a human being, to decide what is done to another human being. This is weird for me because I do not say this because of religious reasons (I am spiritually agnostic) but because it is what I FEEL. If you FEEL so much hate for someone who mostly likely not only did you not know but did not do anything to you and yours personally, it may be time to sit back and think about how YOU are as a person. Do you really want to be someone filled with so much hate? I am not saying forgive the man. I am saying let it go from your mind and let the people who are actually paid to deal out punishment deal with the problem.
I don't hate the man. Hell, I don't know him, so how could I hate him?
Do I want him executed? It should have happened already.
He's not only guilty of murder, but now he's being allowed to inflict further harm and pain on the families of the REAL victims, those killed and wounded by his actions.
I would submit that if he is such a devout Muslim, then he should die by his own religious law. Let the people on the base he attacked stone him to death. But they can't use big rocks. It would only take a few of those. Better to use thousands of smaller stones to ensure he suffers as his religion dictates he should.
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Obama and Holder are laughing their azzes off.
This guy and his legal counsel are making mnkeys out of the military justice system.
The guy in Arizona is already locked up for life and this guy is getting away with arguing wherther he should shave his beard.
But wait ! Don't jump to conclusions. This guy is merely an isolated extremist. At least that is what the president assured us.
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What's with the beard? He didn't have one when he pulled the trigger.
Don't force this muslim to shave. It is clearly against his faith. Instead take the wheels off of his chair, they are not a right that is afforded to him as a military prisioner. Come to think of it the bed in his cell is not a religious right that he is intitled to. Why do we need to keep him in a cell? The POS can't walk so wouldn't a pig pen do the trick? Have a trial via tele-con from the pig-pen, for all future fanatics to watch. Maybe if the message got out there that treason in the name of religon is not going to get desired results..would that be a bad thing?
I mplacable Patriot:
It is obvious you never server in the military. Every Branch of the Service abides by the regulation for all officers and enlisted to be clean shaven, except for the Navy which allows neatly trimmed beards for certain sailors such as submariners.
I have no tolerance for religous terrorists and hope that the trial soon begins. It is unfortunate that the military phyciatrists did not eject him from their ranks because he was already showing signs of problems to come. As far as his beard is concerned, he was shaving as a member of the military until he pulled the trigger and should as a member of the military continue to shave. Your religion is your problem.