Update on Hasan

[Forever_frost]

FORT HOOD, Texas — A military judge ruled Friday against delaying the trial of the Fort Hood shooting suspect, an Army psychiatrist who remains banned from the courtroom because his beard violates Army regulations.

Maj. Nidal Hasan’s trial will proceed as scheduled, beginning on Aug. 20. Defense attorneys wanted the trial moved to December, saying they needed more time to prepare.

But the judge, Col. Gregory Gross, said the defense already had plenty of time. Prosecutors had indicated they were ready for trial last fall, but the court-martial was set for March and postponed first to June and then August — all at the request of the defense team.

Hasan faces the death penalty if convicted of 13 counts of premeditated murder and 32 counts of attempted premeditated murder in the 2009 attack.

Gross said Friday that top Army officials had rejected Hasan’s request for a religious exemption — due to his Islamic faith — to the rule banning beards. An appeals court also denied a defense request to overturn the judge’s decision last week to bar Hasan from the courtroom unless he shaves.

Hasan watched Friday’s hearing from a closed-circuit television in a nearby room, as he did during last week’s hearing.

http://weaselzippers.us/page/2/

[VaderTT]

<---- Military dumb

But why are they still addressing him with his rank or whatever, Maj.?

[ceyko]

<---- Military dumb

But why are they still addressing him with his rank or whatever, Maj.?

Not found guilty...etc so not busted down in rank or anything.

[ceyko]

Oh and shit, I agree with that judge. If you're not ready for trial by now, you'll never be ready.

Of course, for any normal puke it would've been over a week later.

[VaderTT]

Not found guilty...etc so not busted down in rank or anything.

Makes sense.

I just would have thought they would strip his rank then sort it out later.

[Forever_frost]

Oh and shit, I agree with that judge. If you're not ready for trial by now, you'll never be ready.

Of course, for any normal puke it would've been over a week later.

If he hadn't been an officer AND a Muslim, this would have been over within weeks. The military freaks at ever charging an officer with anything of consequence and since he's a Muslim, he's a protected class. My wife was talking to a friend of her's and was told that the lady's husband went to med school in the Army with Hasan. He was a radical back then and when reported to the military, they just let it go.

[Forever_frost]

Makes sense.

I just would have thought they would strip his rank then sort it out later.

Can't demote an officer without a court martial.

[VaderTT]

Can't demote an officer without a court martial.

That sucks in this situation.

[Forever_frost]

That sucks in this situation.

Especially since he's still making Major rank pay every month

[Forever_frost]

Fair Trial Issues a Worry as Hasan Trial Looms
how can a man who killed soldiers get a fair trial before a panel of Army officers?
Jim Forsyth

The judge in the upcoming court martial of Ft. Hood shooting suspect Maj. Nidal Hasan today debated with attorneys the sensitive question of how to go about selecting a military jury to consider the case, as both sides wrestled with the question of how to make sure the man charged with killing 13 people on an Army post can get an impartial hearing from a jury made up of Army officers.



Col. Gregory Gross, the presiding officer, has granted defense attorney Lt. Col. Kris Poppe the right to obtain background information on hundreds of soldiers who may wind up in the jury pool. Poppe is also asking for specific detailed points to be included on a questionnaire to go to potential members of the panel, as juries are called in military court. That is apparently one of the sticking points as negotiations between the lawyers continue behind closed doors.



Hasan, 41, is charged with 13 specifications of premeditated murder and 32 specifications of premeditated attempted murder after he allegedly opened fire on a group of soldiers preparing to deeply to Afghanistan in November of 2009. He could get the death penalty if convicted. His court martial is set to begin at Ft. Hood August 20.



Selecting a panel may turn out to be the most difficult part of the entire process, according to Philip Anthony of DecisionQuest, a jury selection consulting firm, who is an expert on courts martial. Anthony is not involved in the Hasan trial.



"We have to keep in mind that soldiers are people too," he told 1200 WOAI news. "Soldiers who serve as jurors in trials like this come to court with an even more heightened level of bias, because this case was very upsetting to a group of soldiers whose feeling will be one of 'this happened in my own back yard to my own people'."



Under the Uniform Code of Military Justice, the panel must be made up of active duty soldiers, officers at the rank of Major and above unless Hasan specifically requests the panel to include enlisted personnel. Unlike civilian courts, the judge is included as a member of the panel. In most military trials, just a two thirds vote of guilty is needed to convict, but in capital cases like Hasan's, the decision to convict must be unanimous. In addition, the panel members must not be set for military deployment in 'the near time frame.'



"In a way, a trial like this is almost as through the jury in a murder cases all lived in the family where the murder occurred," Anthony said.



Anthony said that's the reason why Poppe is demanding specific questionnaires



"Generally in civilian jury trials there is not a lot known about prospective jurors," he said. "In this trial the records of the soldiers will be made available. But the legal team will have to understand the likelihood of ingrained prejudices about the correct outcome for the trial."



Criminal defense attorney Marcellus MacRae, who is an expert on jury selection with the prominent Los Angeles law firm of Gibson, Dunn, and Crutcher, agreed.



"You simply must be in a position to gain as much information about the backgrounds, the beliefs, the experiences of the people who will be on this panel, so you can make an informed determination about who will make the best juror," he told 1200 WOAI news.



MacRae is also not involved in the Hasan case.



He said Poppe is mainly on the lookout for potential jurors who 'firmly and aggressively' want to be a part of the jury so they can 'make a statement about what the outcome should be.'



Anthony said it will also be impossible for Poppe to find jurors who are not familiar with Hasan's case, and has not made up his or her mind about it.



"The trial team is writing questions to get at the behavior of a stealth juror, these would include inconsistencies in the ways prospective jurors answer the questions," he said. "Like if a prospective juror says he is very busy, and then goes out of his way to minimize their obligations and say yeah, I can definitely be here, I want to be here."



MacRae said while Army officers may feel that Hasan attacked members of their Army family, because they are military officers, they are used to following orders, and that will help them put their emotions aside.



"You want a fairness," he said. "People who will actually sit and observe and wait and see how the various pieces of the jigsaw puzzle that is a trial all crystallize before making a decision."



Under miltiary law, if Hasan is convicted, the panel will immediately convene to decide his punishment.

http://radio.woai.com/cc-common/mainheadlines3.html?feed=119078&article=10266380

[Vertnut]

He should have thought about "fairness" when he attacked 45 unarmed U.S. soldiers (killing 13).
He should be given a "fair" trial, then hung by the neck (with wheel chair intact for extra ballast) until he is dead.

[Snatch Napkin]

He should have thought about "fairness" when he attacked 45 unarmed U.S. soldiers (killing 13).
He should be given a "fair" trial, then hung by the neck (with wheel chair intact for extra ballast) until he is dead.

A straight drop would be too easy. He's undeserving of a dignified death.

Noose him up, tie his hands to the chair, and put him on a handicap ramp. Now wait for however long it takes to slowly kill him.


EDIT: Throw his crippled ass in a pig pen with no chair. Now lower the feeding down to every three days. That would be more suitable.

[91cavgt]

A straight drop would be too easy. He's undeserving of a dignified death.

Noose him up, tie his hands to the chair, and put him on a handicap ramp. Now wait for however long it takes to slowly kill him.


EDIT: Throw his crippled ass in a pig pen with no chair. Now lower the feeding down to every three days. That would be more suitable.

Now we're talking!! Involve pigs with his death so that way he won't end up being a martyr and he won't get those 77 virgins.

[stevo]

A straight drop would be too easy. He's undeserving of a dignified death.

Noose him up, tie his hands to the chair, and put him on a handicap ramp. Now wait for however long it takes to slowly kill him.


EDIT: Throw his crippled ass in a pig pen with no chair. Now lower the feeding down to every three days. That would be more suitable.

Now we're talking!! Involve pigs with his death so that way he won't end up being a martyr and he won't get those 77 virgins.

Exactly, the scene with the guy in the wheelchair in 'Hannibal' would be a perfect template.

Stevo

[Forever_frost]

I have my own solutions to how to handle him. Put him back at the Soldier's Readiness Center and let us police our own. No news, no tax dollars, just us policing ourselves. I can promise you, we can get VERY creative.