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Legal experts following one of the most riveting murder trials in Buffalo history express uniform disapproval of Hassan's attempt to serve as his own lawyer and showing contempt for his trial by stalking out of court. Hassan, also known as "Mo," is charged with stabbing and beheading his wife, Aasiya, on Feb. 12, 2009, in the headquarters of their Bridges television station in Orchard Park. So far, Sedita said, prosecutors have received notice only that Hassan plans to pursue a "battered spouse" justification defense, essentially stating that as a long-abused husband, he feared for his life and the only way...

BUFFALO, N.Y. — A New York judge has warned the founder of a Muslim-oriented television station to retain a lawyer so he won't have to defend himself during an upcoming trial on charges he beheaded his wife. Muzzammil Hassan ...has parted ways with three previous lawyers. Hassan's pursuing a battered spouse defense.

BUFFALO, N.Y., Sept. 4 (UPI) -- Attorneys for a television executive charged with stabbing and beheading his wife can introduce evidence of "battered spouse syndrome," a New York judge ruled. Prosecutors in the case against Muzzammil Hassan said the decision by Erie County Judge Thomas P. Franczyk would force them to ask for a delay in the trial in the February 2009 killing of Aasiya Zubair Hassan, The Buffalo News reported Saturday. Muzzammil Hassan has been in custody since the body of his wife was found in the studio of Bridges TV, the Muslim-oriented cable station the couple had co-founded...

"Gaza flotilla: 2 dead, dozens injured in navy boarding." By JPOST.COM STAFF AND YAAKOV KATZ 05/31/2010 07:00 SNIPPET: "Passengers tried to wrest weapons from soldiers, Army Radio reports; Turkish leadership in emergency meeting to discuss response to attack at sea. Passengers tried to grab weapons away from soldiers boarding the Gaza protest flotilla, starting the violence, Army Radio reported Tuesday morning, responding to accusations that Israeli commandos assaulted the ships guns blazing."

BUFFALO, N.Y. (AP/1010 WINS) -- A police detective said Tuesday that he hadn't finished shaking Muzzammil Hassan's hand upon meeting him before Hassan confessed to killing his wife.

Beheaded woman left statement detailing years of torment, tragedy. When Aasiya Zubair Hassan was finally ready to leave her husband, she prepared herself. She gathered copies of her police reports, photos of her beaten face, images of her ransacked house, scripts her husband made her memorize. Then she painstakingly chronicled her years of torment in a 21-page court statement that painted her husband as not just a batterer, but a cruel, manipulative monster. She detailed how he deprived her of sleep to "improve her personality," made her sign memos authorizing him to punish her if she talked with the police...

BUFFALO, N.Y. — The founder of an Islam-oriented television station who is accused of beheading his wife is due in a Buffalo courtroom for proceedings in advance of his murder trial. Muzzammil “Mo” Hassan is tentatively scheduled to stand trial later this month for the death of his wife, Aasiyah Hassan, last year. Pretrial motions are scheduled for Friday.

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...

A western New York man accused of beheading his wife at the Muslim-oriented television station they founded will claim he was a victim of years of abuse at home. Muzzammil Hassan (moo-ZAHM'-mel HAH'-sahn) was in a Buffalo courtroom Friday, where he fired the lawyer who has been representing him for nearly a year and hired a new one with a different strategy. New lawyer Frank Bogulski says he'll pursue a battered-person defense.....

A man accused of beheading his wife at the television station they founded to counter stereotypes of Muslims is likely to claim emotional distress was behind the killing in hopes of avoiding a murder conviction. Muzzammil Hassan, 45, is scheduled to be tried in January on a charge of second-degree murder in the death of 37-year-old Aasiya Hassan. A psychiatric defense would allow jurors to find him guilty of a lesser charge of manslaughter, according to Hassan's attorney, who made his plans known during a pretrial conference Friday. Muzzammil Hassan had been served with divorce papers a week before his...

The website of a New York TV network whose aim is to improve American perceptions of Islam was shut down this morning, two days after its founder admitted to the beheading of his wife. And while that irony might bring a momentary smile, another attempt to conceal the facts behind an honor killing right here in America should stir nothing short of outrage. Muzzammil Hassan, CEO of Bridges TV, whose motto is "connecting people through understanding," apparently didn't think Thursday's honor killing -- and make no mistake about what this was -- at the station might somehow blur that message....

NEW YORK A prominent Buffalo area businessman who founded the BridgesTV network to improve the image of Muslims in the U.S. has been arrested and charged with murdering his estranged wife – by beheading hear at his company’s office on Thursday. Police have charged the husband, Muzzammil Hassan, 44, with second-degree murder in death of Aasiya Z. Hassan, 37. In its logo, BridgesTV boasts of “connecting people through understanding” via its dish network. Its Web site quotes comments on the company by Jay Leno, Brian Williams and others, plus a screen shot of a CNBC interview with Hassan conducted by...