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AP file
This undated photo shows Nidal Hasan, who is charged with 13 counts of premeditated murder and 32 counts of attempted murder in the 2009 Fort Hood, Texas, shootings.
SAN ANTONIO - Lawyers for a U.S. Army major accused of a deadly 2009 shooting spree at a Texas military post have asked for the death penalty to be disallowed in his court martial, possibly paving the way for a guilty plea in the case.
Fort Hood massacre suspect Major Nidal Hasan is charged with 13 counts of premeditated murder and 32 counts of attempted murder in connection with the rampage at the sprawling Central Texas Army facility.
A three-day pre-trial hearing due to begin on Wednesday will include discussions on a defense request to remove the death penalty in the case, according to a written agenda for the hearing.
A guilty plea is not allowed if the death penalty is a possibility, and one item on the court docket refers to discussion of part of the military justice code involving guilty pleas in capital cases.
Hasan is accused of opening fire on a group of soldiers who were going through processing before being deployed to Afghanistan. He was shot four times by two civilian Fort Hood police officers, leaving him paralyzed from the chest down.
Military commanders, shortly after Hasan was charged, gave prosecutors the right to seek the death penalty if he is convicted, a significant step given that the United States has not executed anyone under the Uniform Code of Military Justice since 1961.
The top U.S. military appellate court ruled last month that the judge who had been presiding over the case, Colonel Gregory Gross, was not impartial and ordered him removed, also setting aside an order that Hasan's beard be forcibly shaved.
Jeffrey Addicott, a law professor at St. Mary's University in San Antonio and a military justice expert, said his reading of the case was that the requested remedy by the defense for the judge's conduct was for the case only to move forward with a maximum penalty of life imprisonment.
"The government has prepared for this case for many years," Addicott said. "There is no incentive for them to accept anything that is less than the death penalty."
Fort Hood spokesman Christopher Haug said that Hasan's court-appointed defense attorney was "prohibited by regulation" from commenting on the agenda item regarding pleas in capital cases.
Hasan's lawyer, Lieutenant Colonel Kris Poppe, is also requesting that he receive the services of a media analyst at taxpayer expense to press a claim that Hasan has been the victim of unfair media coverage.
The delays in Hasan's court martial have frustrated survivors of the shooting. Attorneys for both sides spent much of 2012 arguing over whether Hasan could keep his beard, which he says he grew due to his Islamic faith.
Hasan was repeatedly held in contempt of court by the previous judge over the beard, which violates Army grooming regulations. Judge Gross ordered the beard removed.
But an appeals court ruled that Hasan's grooming standards were the concern of the post commander, not the trial judge, and the new judge in the case, Colonel Tara Osborn, barely mentioned the beard during her first pre-trial hearing last month.
Copyright 2013 Thomson Reuters. Click for restrictions.
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Death penalty is deservant for this "work place violence" incident as the President would call it
Why would they take the death penalty off the table? They have him dead (pun intended) to rights. There is no need to plea bargain with him.
Why do they call him "suspect".....the muslim, American hating, jihadist, terroist, mass-murderer? But, they call the Newton guy & Colorado guy..."Killer" or "shooter"?
Why the political correctness for this muslim? Whose side is the media on?
The press calling him a 'suspect' is done so that the defense cannot come after the press for prejudicial stories.
The Newton guy was already dead so he's not going to sue MSNBC.
NO WAY.....!!!!! He should have been taken out back and SHOT a long time ago..... What A Joke.....
Who gives a crap what he wants???
I believe that someone like this should be forced to live the rest of his life in prison - but not a pleasant one, a real hell-hole where he wished he would be allowed the "Easy" way out.
I do not believe in the death penalty. But in this case I would make an exception.
Screw him..., should have been shot by the military that very day...
He was. He's paralyzed from the chest down. Would have been better had he been killed though.
Very strange. Hasan's alleged cohorts relish the prospect of death in carrying out their acts of terror. Could it be within the realm of possibility that this Major Hasan, deep in his heart, is a simply a coward?
The officer that shot him should have kept on shooting him.
Major Hasan...... NO WAY!!! If convicted, this spree killer needs to be put to death!
"F"him, leave it on the dalm table
Public hangings should be brought back for people like him, it would be a better deterent to crime than prison.
Actually, it's no deterrent to crime with people like this. They would consider it 'glorious'.
I'm thinking wood chipper is the way to go with him and others that commit heinous crimes. You need to have a deterrent, and people sitting in prison for ever obviously is not it.
This POS needs to be put down. Why should we pay for his care for decades? The guys who shot him obviously need more target practice.
It was a female local police officer responding to the call.. not military personal.
( if I remember correctly )
Really?? Convict the SOB and put him down!
As a Muslim shouldn't he be charged with a hate-crime because all the men he killed were of other faiths?
Super good point there - Willis33. Why is he afraid of all the virgins his profit/God has promised him? Death sounds better than spending life in jail watching one's back all the time while being paralyzed from the chest down.
Not sure that "hate crime" has made it into the UMCJ. Even if this were a civil trial, Barry took that off the table when he deemed this a "work place violence issue."
Isn't "Newspeak" just wonderful?
He should be kept in solitary confinement with a TV piping in the 700 club 24 hrs/day and pork being his only food.
@Toxic#12: I like that.
I second that like
Mee too. Up votes for all!
Well, isn't that just too bad... why should what he wants even be a consideration in this? Instead we should bear the cost of housing and caring for him for life after he viciously took the lives of so many and injured so many others?
I don't necessarily believe in the death penalty in many situations because many times it is hard to prove a case dead to rights. In this case, there are so many eye witnesses to what happened, there is no DOUBT to who did this... he deserves to die, his wishes be damned.
Burn.
in 10 years this guy will be free on good behavior
I think he won't last 10 days in prison. Other inmates will give him "big house justice".
USAF RET-3995245
The question is, would he be able to feel the "big house justice", being paralyzed from the chest down?
Remember that this is a military trial. Hence a military prison.
No 'Big house justice', he will be under guard in a military prison--a vacation compared to other prisons.
---and yet, everyone complains that terrorists are treated unfairly.
Wait three years, and we can watch a $200million movie about him. The story of the 'misunderstood victim of hate'. Who will get the lead role?
Just try him, return a guilty verdict, as he was caught, so to speak, red handed killing other soldiers. Then take him out to the closest utility pole, and string his camel riding butt up in the air, by the neck, and after a few minutes, let some snipers have some target practice.
Then cut his sorry rear down, dig a hole, line it with pigskin, and throw him in there. Cover him up, end of story, and no wasted money being spent on him. If the trial started today, by 5 PM, it could be done if they followed my rules.
To all veterans, THANK YOU for serving.
who cares what the towelhead traitor to the uniform wants...put him to death soon please....
I would suggest Hasan be placed in an abundantly occupied sty during Ramadan and we let his Allah decide his guilt or innocence. If the swine survive, they are innocent, if Hasan survives, the swine should be put to death. The only problem with this idea is that the swine would be subjected to cruel and unusual punishment.
He is guilty as attested by many eyewitnesses, why are we wasting taxpayer money. Hang him!
I am sure he does. Why do the FEDS drag out the trials of these Muslim murderers? Does obama have a hand in it? Just wondering since they never seem to come to trial.. for anything.
just dig a deep hole out in the desert for him to live in and feed and water him once a week.
He is guilty of 13 counts of premeditated murder. He deserves the electric chair. Lethal injection would be to good for this piece of crap. Show him the mercy he showed those 13 soldiers. Fry him.
Guess he should have remembered he was in Texas before commiting mass murder.
Funny, he didn't take the "death penalty" off the table for his victims.... Sissy!
Ok, so you read a story about a bus driver that was killed and a boy abducted from a school bus, and all you read in the comments is about "controlling guns because they kill people". You read this story and all you read "Lawyers for a U.S. Army major accused of a deadly 2009 shooting spree at a Texas military post have asked for the death penalty to be disallowed in his court martial, possibly paving the way for a guilty plea in the case." Look, you cant have it both ways. Either you commit to prosecuting murderers to the fullest extent of the law, or you stop the rhetoric about "disarming law abiding citizens".
Somebody comits a crime like this any the courts move quickly and decisively. Four years later and he is just now going in front of the pre-trial judge?........and trying to wiggle out of it by saying that the judge wasnt impartial, and that he had undue media influence?
What the H is that? That is more of an issue with gun violence than the gun I have in my closet, or my desire to go buy another gun. Why isnt that discussed? And dont sit there and say that it is because the military has different rules than civilians do. There are plenty of civilian cases that drag on and on and on because people are more concerned with the accused perceived rights than justice for the victim(s).
Take the NBC report of the girl who performed at the inaguration being killed in a shooting in Chicago. Not a single word about who the shooter was, or what the police are doing to find him. Here is a thought, put all other investigations on hold, devote millions of investigative hours into finding that punk, prove beyond a reasoable doubt that he did it, and put him in the electric chair within 30 days. Then on the very next tragedy, do the same thing (rinse and repeat, its on all the shampoo bottles......why isnt it in the law).
Find the bad guys, punish them, and leave me alone!!!
I live in San Antonio. We hear about this murdering traitor pig almost every day.
I say lower him into a pen of these nuisance feral hogs we have- paralyzed and all until.... well.....
go back in a week and see if Allah rescued him.
Shoot him with an assault weapon!!!!!!!!!!!!!!