NY man accused of beheading claims he was battered

560 WIND ^ | January 22, 2010

[SJackson]

The founder of an Islam-oriented television station who is accused of beheading his wife was abused by her for years, according to his lawyer, who said Friday he will pursue a defense combining that justification as well as psychiatric claims.

Defense attorneys' claims that Muzzammil Hassan was victimized by his wife drew a blunt response from District Attorney Frank Sedita after a hearing Friday.

"He chopped her head off," Sedita said. "He chopped her head off. That's all I have to say about Mr. Hassan's apparent defense that he was a battered spouse."

Hassan, 45, is charged with one count of second-degree murder in the Feb. 12 death of 37-year-old Aasiya Hassan at the offices of Bridges TV, the station the Pakistan-born couple established in 2004 to counter negative stereotypes of Muslims.

During Friday's hearing, Hassan fired the attorney who has been representing him for nearly a year and replaced him with a lawyer who promised "a revolutionary defense" at the March trial.

"The spouse was the dominant figure in this relationship," attorney Frank Bogulski said outside the courtroom. "He was the victim. She was verbally abusive. She had humiliated him."

Nancy Sanders, a former news director at Bridges TV, was skeptical of the abuse claim, noting the stocky Hassan stood over 6 feet tall and "filled a doorway," while Aasiya was slender and several inches shorter.

"I never ever heard her disparage him in the workplace at all," Sanders said. "It just did not seem to be in her nature. She was very gentle."

Bogulski's strategy differs slightly from that of Hassan's previous attorney, James Harrington, who had outlined a psychiatric defense claiming Hassan had experienced extreme emotional disturbance at the time of the killing.

But any psychiatric defense was placed in jeopardy Friday when the judge granted Assistant District Attorney Colleen Curtin Gable's request to bar such claims because the defense had taken too long to reveal its strategy.

Erie County Judge Thomas Franczyk left the door open for Bogulski to file motions seeking to have a psychiatric defense reinstated.

Hassan was served with divorce papers a week before his wife's decapitated body was found at the offices of their television station in Orchard Park, the Buffalo suburb where the couple also lived with their two small children and Muzzammil's two teenagers from a previous marriage.

Hassan was arrested after walking into the Orchard Park police station Feb. 12 and telling officers his wife was dead.

The way she died led the state president of the National Organization for Women, Marcia Pappas, and others to label Aasiya Hassan's death an "honor killng," which Pappas said appeared to be rooted in Muslim notions about women's subordination to men. Harrington dismissed the theory early on and domestic violence advocates cautioned against shifting attention from the universal issue of violence against women.

[Bob J]

She must have asked for a second helping of gruel.

[GeronL]

Husband abuse eh?

Compare to the woman who said on her hubby’s face until he was dead.

[Tennessee Nana]

Yeah sure...

[SJackson]

Middle East and terrorism, occasional political and Jewish issues Ping List. High Volume

If you’d like to be on or off, please FR mail me.

..................

OK, I understand. If they act up, behead them. Just do it in Arabia or Jordan or Africa, that's all. In the US this deserves a needle, though beheading would be interesting, and as I understand it, pretty humane. We can use the Bankers Guillitine Obama has under construction.

[RichInOC]

I don’t care if she deep-fried him, he’s still not allowed to behead her.

[MrDem]

Oh this is precious... “My wife abused me verbally and emotionally so I had to behead her.”

[Fishtalk]

The lives of Muzzammil and Aasiya Hassan were quite different from their public image in the local Muslim and broadcast communities. In the public eye, they were a dynamic couple, building their — actually her — dream of a Muslim-lifestyle TV channel in the United States. But police reports compiled for much of their marriage tell another story: Their home life was a nightmare. Aasiya was repeatedly subjected to controlling and sometimes violent acts by her ambitious but troubled husband. To protect herself, she went to the police in two states. Yet for years she stopped short of pressing charges — thus preserving Muzzammil’s reputation and the venture they built together. On Feb. 6, she filed for divorce and obtained an order of protection, barring him from their home in Orchard Park. A week later, she lay dead in their television offices — stabbed and decapitated. Muzzammil was charged with her murder.

Covered on my True Crime below:

HERE

AND HERE

[tsomer]

Since you mention gruel—

Too bad the lady wasn’t cooking up some grits.

[choctaw man]

“He chopped her head off. That’s all I have to say about Mr. Hassan’s apparent defense that he was a battered spouse.” -

Egad! What has the legal profession come to? No answer necessary...

[Panzerlied]

I’ve always called this the “Whipped Dog” defense. Whip a dog when it’s young, and it becomes vicious. Can’t change its behavior, so we give it a lethal injection.

I propose the same solution for this a$$wipe!

[Allegra]

Muzzammil Hassan...

LOL - I've lived in the Middle East for a few years and never heard this name. Good one! (Still not quite as funny as Mofaq...)

Oh....and this guy has got to be FOS. Sounds like a pretty flimsy defense to me.

[AnotherUnixGeek]

The founder of an Islam-oriented television station who is accused of beheading his wife was abused by her for years, according to his lawyer, who said Friday he will pursue a defense combining that justification as well as psychiatric claims.

Yeah, I'd have to say I don't believe him. I think it's far more likely that the poor woman suffered verbal and physical abuse from this guy throughout their marriage and it ended when he cut her head off. And it's just charming that he tops off his shameful excuse of a life with this final act of cowardice.

[SJackson]

Thanks for the links.

[SirJohnBarleycorn]

NY man accused of beheading claims he was battered

If he was battered, then it would only be appropriate that he now be fried.

[SJackson]

LOL - I've lived in the Middle East for a few years and never heard this name. Good one! (Still not quite as funny as Mofaq...)

Keep laughing, many news reports, and Wiki, refer to him as Mo Steve Hassan. He probably went back to Muzzammil to normalize beheadings. Sounds like Metamucil.

[SJackson]

:>)

[ColdOne]

Islam the Religion of Piece’s.

[dennisw]

In other Taquiyaa news today Hamas claimed it now recognized Israel’s right to exist

[Cindy]

A little Off Thread Topic:

stepping back in time...

http://www.freerepublic.com/tag/bridgestv/index

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http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1294901/posts

“New American Muslim TV Network: Really Moderate? (Jihad Watch)”
Human Events Online ^ | Dec 2, 2004 | Robert Spencer
Posted on December 5, 2004 9:50:04 AM PST by Tolerance Sucks Rocks

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http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1289936/posts

“First US Muslim TV to See Light Tuesday”
Islam Online ^ | November 28, 2004 | IslamOnline.net & News Agencies
Posted on November 28, 2004 2:06:45 PM PST by Land_of_Lincoln_John

NEW YORK, November 28