US jury set to mull Fort Hood shooter's fate

A US military jury was expected to begin deliberating Wednesday on whether to sentence an Army officer to death or life in prison for killing 13 people in a 2009 shooting rampage at Fort Hood.

Major Nidal Hasan was convicted Friday of 13 charges of premeditated murder for the killing spree at the Texas base, which left more than 30 others wounded.

Closing arguments in the sentencing phase of the trial on Wednesday will provide Hasan with one last opportunity to address the court before the jury deliberates on his sentence.

The jury will then decide whether the 42-year-old one-time Army psychiatrist should spend the rest of his life in military prison or face the death penalty.

If he gets the death penalty, the US-born Muslim of Palestinian descent would be the first member of the Army to receive such a sentence since the 2005 conviction of Hasan Akbar, who killed two in an attack on fellow soldiers in Kuwait in 2003.

Many legal experts had expected Hasan, who is representing himself, to use the trial as a platform to espouse radical Islamic views.

He instead has put up virtually no defense at all.

Hasan has called no witnesses, entered scant evidence and has only made one statement to the jury, telling the court at the outset of the trial, "I am the shooter."

"I've never seen anything like this before. This is quite unprecedented," said Richard Rosen, a military law expert at Texas Tech University.

On November 5, 2009, Hasan opened fire at a medical processing facility in the sprawling Fort Hood base that serves as a staging point for soldiers to deploy to combat zones.

Twelve of the dead and 30 of the wounded were soldiers. Hasan was himself shot by a civilian police officer who responded to the attack and he is now partially paralyzed.

He initially attempted to defend the rampage as a pre-emptive attack on soldiers who would strike Muslims in Iraq and Afghanistan.

But the presiding judge, Colonel Tara Osborn, disallowed that tactic, stating it held no legal merit.

Since Osborn's ruling, Hasan has remained quiet in court, while strategically leaking documents to media outlets.

In a letter to AFP, he stated religion was his motive in the attack, and criticized US foreign policy he believes aims to topple Islamic governments to install secular leadership.

Many, including the Army attorneys advising Hasan, believe his lack of action in court shows he is pursuing a death sentence.

In an Army mental health report from 2010, Hasan said a death sentence would make him a martyr.

His attorneys unsuccessfully attempted to enter evidence on Hasan's behalf Tuesday.

The judge denied their request, and told Hasan he is "the captain of the ship."

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/us-jury-set-mull-fort-hood-shooters-fate-160841481.html

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