Judge Halts Fort Hood Massacre Trial

The trial of Fort Hood shooter US Army Major Nidal Malik Hasan — the term “alleged” is apparently no longer necessary, since he stated in open court he did it — was halted by the military judge.

By Wednesday, the lawyers ordered to help him said they had had enough — they couldn’t watch him fulfill a death wish.

“It becomes clear his goal is to remove impediments or obstacles to the death penalty and is working toward a death penalty,” his lead standby attorney, Lt. Col. Kris Poppe, told the judge. That strategy, he argued, “is repugnant to defense counsel and contrary to our professional obligations.”

Poppe said he and the other standby lawyers want to take over the case, or if Hasan is allowed to continue on his own, they want their roles minimized so that Hasan couldn’t ask them for help with a strategy they oppose.

In short, the lawyers who are tasked to be in pseudo-standby to help him want to either take over — or they want out.

That Hasan may be actively seeking to be put to death is a conclusion drawn by others as well.

The apparent death wish of Fort Hood shooter Nidal Hasan…came as no surprise to veteran prosecutors who have handled high-profile cases involving terrorists…

You have to figure that anyone so committed that he’ll kill unarmed people believes he’ll be rewarded for being a martyr for the cause,” said [former U.S. Air Force Col. Morris] Davis, now a law professor at Howard University School of Law.

In an awkward set of circumstances, Hasan openly admits to the terror attack, but is prohibited from pleading guilty in a capital case.  Thus, while the “trial” has a prosecution and defense, they’re actually in agreement.

That Hasan is using, or may attempt to use, the trial as a platform for his self-described jihad rather than an actual defense further weighs on the case.

Davis also said he’s not in favor of the death penalty for Hasan because that’s “exactly what [he] wants.”  While some may see some justice in Hasan living out his days in a wheelchair, forced to regularly empty out his a colostomy bag, “justice” is not about kharmic irony or sticking it to the man.  Hasan admits he murdered men and women at Fort Hood nearly 4 years ago.  He has implied, though not yet stated, that he would have murdered more if he could — or that he might be willing to do so in the future, or that he might be willing to encourage others to do so.

Hasan has faced an Earthly judge and neither fears her nor cares.  He wants to face the next Judge.

Speed him on his way.

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