A military judge has granted Nidal Hasan, the Army psychiatrist charged in the deadly 2009 Fort Hood shooting attack that left 13 dead, the option to represent himself at his upcoming murder trial, the Associated Press reported. By representing himself, Hasan the opportunity to question the more than two dozen soldiers he was also accused of wounding in his brazen terrorist attack nearly 4 years ago.
"It's definitely going to make (testifying) a lot more difficult," retired Staff Sgt. Shawn Manning said. "It makes me sick to my stomach that he'd even (use that defense)."
Hasan, an American-born Muslim said he would use a 'defense of others' strategy, which experts say requires defendants to prove they were protecting other people from imminent danger.
Witnesses said that after lunch on November 5, 2009, Nidal, wearing an Army combat uniform shouted 'Allahu Akbar,' before opening fire in a crowded medical building where deploying soldiers were given their vaccines and undergo tests. It was seen as the first terrorist attack in the U.S. under the Obama administration.
Hasan faces the death penalty or life without parole if convicted of 13 counts of premeditated murder and 32 counts of attempted premeditated murder.
The judge ruled that Hasan was mentally competent to represent himself and understood the "disadvantage of self-representation," after questioning him for an hour on Monday.
In 2011, Hasan cut ties with John Galligan, his previous lead attorney. Galligan is a former military judge, adding that he did not know why his former client would want to represent himself, the AP also reported.
"It's not common . . . He's probably not going to do such a great job of representing himself, but with the way the current system is set up, he's afforded those rights,'' New York State Senator Lee Zeldin told "The Steve Malzberg Show" on Newsmax TV. Zlding is also a U.S. Army reservist.
