Military lawyers will represent Ft. Hood suspect

FORT HOOD, Texas - The Army psychiatrist who faces the death penalty in the Fort Hood shooting rampage will be represented by three military lawyers after he unexpectedly severed ties with his civilian attorney Wednesday.

Maj. Nidal Hasan told a judge during an arraignment hearing that he had released his civilian defense attorney and wanted to be represented by three military attorneys, including two who already had been on his defense team.

John Galligan, the civilian attorney who had led Hasan's defense for nearly two years, was not in court. He told The Associated Press just before the hearing that he had decided to step down temporarily, while being ready to "resume an active role." Galligan declined to give a reason for his decision.

Hasan did not enter a plea during the arraignment that lasted about 15 minutes. He is charged with 13 counts of premeditated murder and 32 counts of attempted premeditated murder in connection with the November 2009 attack on the Texas Army post.

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Col. Gregory Gross, Fort Hood's chief circuit judge, set March as the date for the military trial. Jurors will be brought in from Fort Sill, Okla., according to documents filed in the case.

It's unclear when Hasan will enter a plea. According to military law, he cannot plead guilty because it is a death penalty case.

Fort Hood's commander, Lt. Gen Donald Campbell, announced two weeks ago that Hasan would be tried in a military court and would face the death penalty. That decision echoed recommendations from two Army colonels who also reviewed the case.

Galligan is a retired Army colonel who has vigorously defended Hasan long before Fort Hood's commander decided that he'd go to trial.

"I have consistently argued that Major Hasan has not been treated fairly. I maintain that belief," Galligan said Wednesday.

The report from Hasan's mental evaluation has not been disclosed. The three-member military panel was asked to determine whether he is competent to stand trial, if he had a severe mental illness the day of the shootings and, if so, whether that prevented him from knowing at the time that his alleged actions were wrong.

Hasan, 40, was paralyzed from the waist down after being shot by police that day. He remains in the Bell County jail, which houses defendants for nearby Fort Hood.

Hasan had attended several brief court hearings before last fall's evidentiary hearing that lasted about two weeks. He sometimes took notes during that hearing and showed no reaction as 56 witnesses testified, including more than two dozen soldiers who survived gunshot wounds.

Witnesses said that a gunman wearing an Army combat uniform shouted "Allahu Akbar!" — which is Arabic for "God is great!" — and opened fire in a small but crowded medical building where deploying soldiers are vaccinated and undergo other tests. The gunman fired rapidly, pausing only to reload, even shooting some people as they hid under tables or fled the building, witnesses said.

Some witnesses identified the gunman as Hasan, an American-born Muslim who was scheduled to deploy to Afghanistan the following month. Before the attack, Hasan bought a laser-equipped semiautomatic handgun and repeatedly visited a firing range, where he honed his skills by shooting at the heads on silhouette targets, witnesses testified during the hearing.

A Senate report released earlier this year said the FBI missed warning signs and that before the rampage, Hasan had become an Islamic extremist and a "ticking time bomb."