Covered at Reason 24/7: Judge Rejects Fort Hood Shooter's Guilty Plea
Against military rules because the death penalty applies
Major Nidal Hasan was charged with 13 counts of premeditated murder within a month of the 2009 Fort Hood shooting and arraigned in 2011. A trial was set for last year but has faced multiple delays, including when Hasan refused to shave his beard as required by military rules. Now the rules are prohibiting his plea from being accepted.
The Fort Hood soldier charged with 13 counts of premeditated murder in the 2009 military post rampage cannot plead guilty, a judge ruled Wednesday.
The Associated Press reports that Maj. Nidal Hasan's attorneys said he wanted to plead guilty. He's barred, however, by Army rules. Military judges can't take guilty pleas from defendants who face the death penalty, AP says. So attorneys tried to get the judge to accept a guilty plea for 13 counts of unpremeditated murder — to no avail, AP reports.
No word on whether his attempted guilty plea might affect his rank or paycheck.
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