FORT HOOD JIHADIST ENDS DEFENSE AFTER FOUR MINUTES

After prosecutors in the Article 32 hearing - which is used to determine if there's enough evidence for a court martial - presented 56 witnesses over several days last month, all with gripping and horrifyingly compelling testimony, the defense mounted by the Fort Hood shooter, Nidal Malik Hasan, lasted a grand total of four minutes. Such a weak attempt at a defense in an Article 32 is not necessarily uncommon. That said, Hasan's attorney seemed to be conceding to the reality that there will be a court martial.

Via the San Antonio Express:

FORT HOOD — Prosecutors took nine days and 56 witnesses to finish their part of an evidentiary hearing for an Army psychiatrist charged with a shooting spree one year ago, but the defense took just four minutes.

The hearing wrapped up Monday morning shortly after Col. James Pohl, an Army judge who presided over a series of Abu Ghraib proceedings five years ago, asked Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan if he had anything to say.

“No,” Hasan replied.

Pohl, the investigating officer for the Article 32 hearing, will recommend whether a trial should be ordered for Hasan, who is charged with 13 specifications of premeditated murder and could get the death penalty.

A post spokesman said a decision on a trial is expected at the beginning of next year.

If there is anything good to come out of the hearing, it may be the repeated requests made by Hasan's attorney, John Galligan, who has been demanding - rather unsuccessfully - that he receive investigation results of his client's time at Walter Reed Army Medical Center.

In light of what has leaked about all the red flags raised by Hasan's behavior, the Department of Defense is not looking forward to being significantly shamed by revelations of what it didn't do to prevent this massacre.



h/t to Weasel Zippers.