Posted on 11/12/2009 11:44:49 AM PST by lbryce
Military prosecutors have charged Maj. Nadil Malik Hasan with 13 counts of premeditated murder in last weeks shooting rampage at Fort Hood, Tex., a spokesman for the Army criminal investigation division said Thursday.
Major Hasan, 39, an Army psychiatrist, is accused of opening fire with two handguns in a Soldier Medical Readiness Center, where troops receive medical attention before being deployed or after returning from overseas.
Of the 13 people who were killed, , four were officers, 8 were enlisted soldiers and one was a civilian. Major Hasan was eventually subdued by civilian police.
The 13 charges against Major Hasan are initial charges, said the Army spokesman, Chris Grey, and additional charges may be preferred in the future, subject to the ongoing criminal investigation.
It is important to remember that the preferral of charges is the first step in the court-martial process, Mr. Grey said, and that a charge is merely an accusation. The accused is presumed innocent until and unless proven guilty.
Col. John P. Galligan, a retired Army officer, who is representing Major Hasan, has questioned whether the suspect will be able to get a fair trial at Fort Hood.
For now, Mr. Grey added, Major Hasan is currently under pretrial restriction while receiving medical care.
Major Hasan is reported to be in stable condition in an Army Hospital in San Antonio, where he is recovering from four gunshot wounds.
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
Asked why he would take such a case, Mr. Galligan said, "I'm honored to represent a soldier. They defend us. We need to make sure we defend them."
I love it.
You, sir, are making me feel good about myself again today.
The chagrin, turning into a big smile. Thanks very much!!!
Multiple charges may be filed, but the simpler ones are cleaner to avoid him being loosed on a technicality or burden of proof, if even temporarily.
Murder is the obvious choice. I know some on this forum are upset with him not being charged for the unborn child’s murder but if they cannot convict him on the 13, adding a 14th won’t tip the scales.
Premeditated. I think it’s possible he even selected his victims some time before committing the act.
In addition, there are numerous attempted murders. Certainly, he intended to kill everyone he shot.
Also, I wonder if the military justice system has a charge of “mayhem.”
The guy (cop) that finally brought the muslim down heard “two more, two more” shouted from someone. (Perhaps the same guy that shouted “he’s reloading” when the cop made his shots.)
The cop thought at first it meant two more shooters, but looking around and seeing no one while advancing towards the muslim, the cop figured the shout for “two more” meant to shoot him two more times. Instead he kicked the pistol out of the prone muslim and handcuffed him. :(
I’m glad he will be tried in a military court. There will be less success trying to select a sympathetic jury and no endless appeals in state court. Of course Obama will have the last word. We will have to see if he has the backbone to approve Hasan’s likely death sentence.
See my post #45
Also Article 119a punishes death or injury of an unborn child.
No kidding, they’ll try to get him off somehow.
Perhaps this is why it happened in the first place.
Obama appoints 2 devout muslimes to homeland security.
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/bloggers/2266922/posts
No justice for the Unborn, Political correctness STILL controls all of this.
Well, he committed thirteen counts of capital murder in TEXAS. The trial will be relatively short, and the electric chair will get him.
Maybe he’ll have to wait a few months, thinking about it, anticipating it. Good. I’ll shed as many tears for him as I did for the DC Sniper - none.
I know our Justice System is a joke, that’s why I put
the word ‘decision’ in quotation marks.
The initial joke, of course, is this mindset, in full swing
since 9-11, and , amazingly, not likely to be altered in any important way, this mindset that welcomes someone like Hasan into the American Military, giving him a title, a salary, and prestige. “Diversity is our strength” was the mantra, and we just heard it again from the Army Chief of Staff, and, that mantra is STILL not going to be scrapped. They pathetically keep invoking a “backlash” that never will take place, because a perceived backlash is the only thing that could justify their determination to tread very softly and not make waves. Meanwhile, PC CONTINUES to kill us, owing to some naively misguided program of winning hearts and minds by ‘incorporating’ Muslims directly into our armed services, complete with their own spiritual advisers, Islamic ‘Chaplains’. We were not shaken up sufficiently by 9-11 to put up much of a fight when we saw, in dribs and drabs, all these cognitively dissonant things happening,involving Muslims who were all to ready to jump in and play the part of “Good cop”. Hasan was one of those, and when he started showing signs of being something else entirely, quite a while ago, the FBI and the Army chose the PC route WILLINGLY, and as a result, a lot more Americans are dead.
Except he’ll be tried in a military court and execution must be approved by Obama.....Fat chance...UNLESS they feel shutting him up ASAP is beneficial.
Thanks, I haven’t even had much of a chance to look it over...
I believe they’ll limit this to the “murder” article...
The punishment guidelines should be an interesting phase of this deal...
Let me be clear as a police officer. Had I been the responding officer and first to confront him, he would have never made it to the hospital for treatment. Call me cold, callous, ruthless whatever. I don’t care. He would NOT have survived.
“I hope the Court Martial is finalized after 01/22/2013!”
I don’t know - we have a douche bag in the White House.
This could turn in to a circus real fast.
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