During his opening statements beginning his court martial trial on Tuesday, suspect Major Nidal Hasan, facing a potential death penalty sentence for his role in the 2009 shooting rampage at Fort Hood, told jurors that "the evidence will clearly show that I am the shooter," the Associated Press reported. He added that "witnesses will testify that war is an ugly thing. Death, destruction and devastation are felt from both sides, from friend and foe. Evidence from this trial will only show one side. I was on the wrong side, but I switched sides."
Hasan wanted to argue that he shot U.S. troops in an effort to protect Taliban fighters in Afghanistan but the judge forbade him from offering that testimony. Hasan, an army psychiatrist, killed 13 people dead and injured more than 30 people in a shooting rampage at the Texas military base on Novemeber 5, 2009.He faces 13 specifications of premeditated murder under the Uniform Code of Military Justice, the AP reported.
There have been numerous delays in beginning the trial; thus the court martial on Tuesday began under heavy scrutiny on Tuesday. Many of the wounded are expected to be on the witness stand, potentially interrogated by the man who shot them. Hasan is acting as his own defense attorney at the trial after twice dismissing his legal team.
On November 5, 2009, Hasan reportedly chose the large hall at the military base where he opened fire since it was the most crowded and would mostly spare civilians, prosecutor Col. Steve Henricks said on Tuesday. Henricks added that the date of the attack had been planned, but did not give specifics the significance of the date.
"He then yelled 'Allahu akbar!' and opened fire on unarmed, unsuspecting and defenseless soldiers," Henricks told the jury. After the rampage, Hasan was shot by a civilian police officer, and remains paralyzed from the waist down, confined to a wheelchair.
