New judge to decide on Fort Hood case

2013-01-30 19:46

Nidal Hasan (Picture: AP)

Fort Hood - The new judge in the Fort Hood shooting case is to decide this week whether to spare Major Nidal Hasan a possible death sentence and let him plead guilty in the worst mass shooting on a US military installation.

Pre-trial hearings are scheduled on Wednesday through to Friday so the new military judge, Colonel Tara Osborn, can reconsider several defence requests previously rejected by the former judge.

Defence attorneys say Hasan wants to plead guilty to 13 counts of premeditated murder in the 2009 attack on the Texas Army post.

But military rules prohibit a judge from accepting a guilty plea in a death penalty case.

Without a death penalty option, the punishment is life without parole -which Hasan already faces if convicted of the 32 counts of attempted premeditated murder.

- SAPA