Judge won't let Fort Hood suspect plead guilty

Maj. Nidal Hasan, the Army psychiatrist charged in the deadly 2009 Fort Hood shooting, is seen in this undated file photo provided by the Bell County Sheriff's Department via The Temple Daily Telegram. / AP Photo/Bell County Sheriff's Department via The Temple Daily Telegram

FORT HOOD, Texas An Army psychiatrist will not be allowed to plead guilty to any charges in the deadly 2009 Fort Hood shooting rampage, a judge ruled Wednesday.

Maj. Nidal Hasan's attorneys previously said he was ready to plead guilty to the 13 counts of premeditated murder he faces in the worst mass shooting on a U.S. military installation, but Army rules prohibit a judge from accepting a guilty plea to charges that carry the death penalty.

Defense attorneys then asked that Hasan be allowed to plead guilty to 13 counts of unpremeditated murder, which does not carry the death penalty.

No guilty pleas would have stopped his murder trial or possibility of being sentenced to death.

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But the judge, Col. Tara Osborn, ruled Hasan cannot plead guilty to those lesser charges or the 32 counts of attempted premeditated murder that he also faces. He still would have been tried on the premeditated murder charges, so pleading guilty to the attempted premeditated murder charges could have been used against him at trial, Osborn said.

She also said he would not be allowed to plead guilty to unpremeditated murder and unpremeditated attempted murder, because that "would be the functional equivalent of pleading guilty to a capital offense." A capital offense is a charge that carries the death penalty.

Hasan's court-martial is to start with jury selection May 29 and with testimony July 1 on the Texas Army post.

Some military law experts have suggested Hasan wanted to plead guilty to lesser charges to try to avoid a possible execution, with defense attorneys hoping at least one juror would have seen Hasan's guilty pleas as a sign of remorse. Unlike other military trials, a jury's decision for a death sentence must be unanimous.

After hearing several hours of testimony Wednesday, Osborn also said she would consider whether to allow a terrorism consultant to testify at the trial. Prosecutors said Evan Kohlmann's testimony and report on Hasan would show motive. But defense attorneys said Hasan isn't charged with terrorism, so Kohlmann's testimony would be prejudicial to the military jury.

[vagrant45]

Pathetic When A Justice system is so broke down a person cannot plead guilty even when they are guilty.

[raymailhot]

This is bigger than murder, this was treason. The attack was an attack by a military officer on other GIs based on killing as many Americans as he could. He was not targeting specific individuals, but specific uniforms! If our military had a leader they would have already hung him!

[Bobby1120]

So now we are going to waste millions of dollars to try this miscreant - we must be losing our minds.

Of course it was premeditated - did the weapons appear by magic or did he go and acquire them? Assume the latter - isn't that enough evidence of premeditation.

I say for what he did, let him fry and lets not waste time and money for a trial or certainly to house, feed and provide medical care for the balance of his life - I hope we are smarter than that but I am not certain.

[lloydbest1]

I wonder if this isn't merely a problem with semantics?

Suppose we simply charge him with aggravated murder (and premeditated murder is nothing if not "aggravated") and have him plead guilty to that instead. I'm no lawyer but I do not think a death penalty is mandatory for "aggravated" murder.

In any case we probably shouldn't execute him anyway - not for so-called humanitarian reasons since it is far more humane to kill him and be done with it. But simply because, as absurd as it sounds, it is FAR less expensive to let him rot in stir than to go through all the rigmarole involved in in the process of execution

[Gatorkcbode]

@oldbroad, I am with you. The People posting on this site are idiots. The obviously didn't read the article, or if they did, they are too stupid to understand that our judicial system and the UCMJ are two completely different things.

[cleric77]

Gatorkcbode....so all of our military lawyers are ethical and moral? How much $$$$ is involved in conducting this no-sense trial? How many fellow citizens & soldiers did this man willfully kill? How much $$$ will/are all the lawyers, including the judge receiving for their work?
Since, we are living in an amoral society who is being naive?

[Wondering53]

Whether military or civilian court, not being allowed to plead guilty by the court is ridiculous. Again the judicial system coddles the accused and the attorneys get richer! I can't see how it could be considered workplace violence when all things point to terrorism and them killing more of us! Again ridiculous and no common sense being used. Attorneys and lawyers twisting the laws to accomodate and advance their agendas.

[Bojax39]

"She also said he would not be allowed to plead guilty to unpremeditated murder and unpremeditated attempted murder, because that "would be the functional equivalent of pleading guilty to a capital offense." A capital offense is a charge that carries the death penalty."

Gee. You want to kiss his terrorist butt a little harder, Judge? Could you perhaps tell us why you're coddling this guy? There MUST be a reason, nobody could be this stupid.

[cleric77]

It truly appears that our nation is controlled by unethical lawyers, who have assisted in making our nation--a lawless society--where there are no rights or wrongs and no guilty or not guilty legal system. Lying is now the norm in our society.

[cleric77]

oldbroad-1956....so you are defensing all military lawyers? They are all ethical and moral? Or, are they not part of our lawless present day society--where there are no moral absolutes? I think you are revealing yourself as a very naive "moron".

[tsigili]

As I have said before.......our judicial system in America has become totally CORRUPT!

[Ardie_Aure]

You know, I live under an unfettered government that has no legislated limits at all. Like any US citizen, I'm required to testify against myself, I am denied a speedy trial and due process, I cannot have reasonable bail... I am subject to double jeopardy..and don't even get me started on the 1st amendment...

... yet at times the US government arbitrarily acts as though it can't act because of rules it must live under. This guy even gets to keep his beard because of US government rules.

If Nidal Hasan has rights under US law... What happened to mine?