Monday, August 26, 2013
Good morning:
Major Nidal Hasan, an Army psychiatrist and devout Muslim, was convicted last week by a military jury of killing 13 people during a shooting rampage at Fort Hood. The sentencing phase of his trial begins today. The jury that found him guilty has two options: death or life without parole. Since he is representing himself and only cross examined three of the 90 witnesses who testified against him, there is little doubt that he is passively seeking a death sentence. The only question is whether the jury will oblige and grant his wish.
Pursuant to Faretta v. California, 422 U.S. 806 (1975), a defendant has a Sixth Amendment right to represent himself, if he is competent and unequivocally demands to do so. Judges typically appoint stand-by counsel to be present and available to take over, if a defendant changes his mind and that was done in this case. However, Major Hasan has shown no inclination to change his mind.
He wanted to present a defense that he acted in defense of unnamed insurgents who would be killed by U.S. soldiers, but the trial judge, Colonel Tara Osborn, would not permit him to do so. As you all know from Trayvon’s case, a person cannot lawfully kill another person in self-defense or defense of another unless he reasonably believes that he or the person he is defending is in imminent danger of being killed or suffering great bodily harm. Major Hasan’s belief that some unidentified insurgents were in danger of being killed or suffering great bodily harm at some unknown time in the future as a result of actions taken by some unidentified soldier, even if true, cannot satisfy the imminent requirement. Therefore, the judge’s ruling was proper, as a matter of secular law.
Major Hasan did not care about secular law when he opened fire on the soldiers he killed and injured.
Major Hasan intended to die. No one killed him that day, but they will kill him some day and this trial is just a slow motion way to get there as he passively submits to the process and patiently awaits the inevitable execution.
As far as Major Hasan is concerned, he is already dead.
Frederick Leatherman Law Blog 
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on an somewhat related note — i think we could eliminate the TSA if we were all to fly naked with a heavily advertised pig pen on all commercial flights.
that is all.
UPDATE:
FOX News is reporting tonight that standby counsel for Major Hasan have asked the judge to permit them to take over the defense.
Have you ever wondered:
1. Why Muslims immigrate to this country if they hate it and its people so much.
2. Why activist always rush to defend these people when they know they were wrong or broke the law.
3. Why our courts give these people more rights than its citizens.
4. Why we keep trying to help people that do not want our help
5. Whenever there is a flareup in the middle east the first thing you hear from foreign nations is why is the U.S. going to do; why haven’t the U.S. intervened and when we do —- condemn the heck out of us.
6. If I immigrated to another country they would not give me a check and food stamps. I did not know this occurred here until recently. I see why foreigners flock here. They get more benefits than our own poor.
7. State government banning Shira law when their own form of Shira (evangelical Christianity) is menacing american women.
Fogen is in the news again. Zimmerman’s lawyer: “Defense attorney to seek thousands in legal fees for Zimmerman’s trial from state of Florida”
“The Orlando Sentinel says Mark O’Mara told the paper Monday evening (http://bit.ly/15rjlNR ) that because Zimmerman was acquitted, state law requires Florida to pay all his legal costs.”
http://tinyurl.com/ma3msro
But the NYT says that: “According to case law, acquitted defendants can be reimbursed for court reporters’ deposition fees, the costs of witnesses’ subpoenas and process servers, the standard witness fees of about $5 each and the bills of expert witnesses for time spent in court. The statute does not provide compensation for lawyer’s fees. The costs of private investigators and the fees for expert witness consultation outside of court are still a matter of debate.
http://tinyurl.com/mlnwk6c
I just posted an article on the cost bill that O’Mara will be submitting.
The NYT article to which you linked was published in 1992, so it’s not current.
Professor, can you please help me with this?
http://www.seminoleclerk.org/CriminalDocket/case_detail.jsp?CaseNo=592012CF001083A
Im not sure of the meaning or whats going on.
Thanks in advance,
Mari
There’s a guy in prison in GA who is filing frivolous motions.
//Major Hasan’s belief that some unidentified insurgents were in danger of being killed or suffering great bodily harm at some unknown time in the future as a result of actions taken by some unidentified soldier, even if true, cannot satisfy the imminent requirement. Therefore, the judge’s ruling was proper, as a matter of secular law.//
True, but in the climate of pre-emptive strike, this should have been a viable defense.
OT re Zimmerman
Reported on Orlando WFTV9 tonight, Zimmerman to ask State to pay more than $300,000 in legal fees. O’Mara to file motion for legal fees payment.
The nerve!
Ha ha Ha. after all money that freeloader got.
I’ve never heard of anyone getting their legal fees refunded because they were aquitted….but of course this is Florida.
On her blog, Xena read the FL statute and says court costs that the state might have to take don’t include attorney’s fees and special witnesses and all that. Maybe Prof could sound in here. It sounds as if OM is playing high theater in the media again.
George Zimmerman is a self serving lying con artist.
He got a bunch of pigeons to buy into his false narrative by making statements that he knew touched deep seated prejudice they all held dear to either get money for his defense or to get off scot free.
Now, he wants to collect all that money donated for his defense and put it in his pocket.
He is, indeed, the Mighty Quinn of the right wing coming to give them a fix so that they (pigeons on a limb) can jump for joy and revel in their stupidity.
It is a great song, though.
.
*him*
Anyone know what’s going on with the baby killer case in Georgia?
Seems like a strange case.
I can only get snippets of information.
Last I heard, the alleged killer said the mother and father forced his to shoot their baby. And with gun powder on their hands, who the heck knows. Veddy strange case.
I wonder what I would do if I were in an organization, in good faith, that turned out to be determined to kill my extended family. I hope I wouldn’t lose it like Hasan did but I sure would be unhappy about it.
bettykath, I might point out that the individual accepted his commission after 911, and do you think he was not smart enough to realize that he probably would end up having to serve in a combat situation? He would have had to be as dumb as a box of rocks to not realize that…
He was not in combat. He is a psychiatrist who listened all day long to people suffering severe mental anguish and PTSD in combat situations. He also saw the daily carnage. He could not handle another tour and begged not to be sent back, but they ordered him to return and he snapped.
You cannot decry from military service because of religion?
Only if you were a passifist an then joining the military as a pacifist would be hypicrtical and absurd .
When you join an army or agree to be conscripted you are joining a force that will train you to kill.
Expect you to kill if ordered an religion shouldn’t even be an issue.
Forinstance Irish terrorists purporting to be Christians killed fellow Christians indiscriminately for decades.
An no British soldier being deployed to Ireland was asked if they were Christian an didn’t feel like killing fellow Christians they could just book out.
Makes no sence so why should Muslims be treated differently ?
Some have refused to deploy b/c they consider the wars to be illegal and/or they refuse to commit other war crimes. I don’t know the religions of those who have refused but they aren’t not (all?) Muslim.
OT, with apologies.
I can’t tweet but if I could I would tweet:
It is NOT illegal to follow George Zimmerman.
Malisha, His own legal defense team helped with that, when they stated he was a public figure…. Hmmm, let the games begin…
Seems like turnabout may be fair play, since not illegal to follow is still a mantra by Fogen supporters.
Arias update:
USA Today reports:
Judge Stephens said during an earlier hearing that she wants to schedule the retrial of the penalty phase in late September.
Due to the necessity of mailing out the juror summons sufficiently far in advance of the penalty phase, I am not sure that late September is realistic and the defense has already indicated that it needs more time.
He is the Muslim version of Anders Brievik a self appointed lone wolf fighter for Allah an the injustices he perceives his religion receives at the hands of non beleivers.
Both Anders Brievik an Nidal Hussain are the same side of a double sided coin.
Exact clones both narrsasistic self agrandised individuals heros in there own lunchtimes an spineless cowards .
Both chose soft targets both hid behind uniforms that made them seem safe in the eyes of there unarmed victims.
Both were empty shells of soulless depraved diseased mindscapes both knew this.
An to counter it both decided to force themselves onto the world with atrocities .
Murder sprees of multiple innocents garantees the victims to anoniminity .
And the perpetraters to ifammy.
Of course he is already dead phycos like them are dead inside unable to apreaciate the world an there miraculous part in it .
There never content with mere existence an loathe those of us that are content with opur lot.
So if they cannot experience joy an contentment know one shall.
FUCKTARDS with GUNS weapons BOMBS …………………
They claim an agenda /manifesto an an idealoligy when
The truth is they don’t deal with life period
There idealoligy= I Deal oddly .
You have a great talent for putting things in perspective.
The judge in the Jodi Arias case is going to set a new date today for the penalty phase retrial.
Cheers so is September still on the Table ?
I believe so.
I hope the people that harassed this guy until he snapped are happy. The dude went Full Metal Jacket.
Once when I was in the military a guy threatened me, that I would go home in a body bag if I did not do what he wanted. Well, he did not do anything , but you never know. And the military is not a place to file complaints.
Boyd, I looked at this case when it first occurred, and have paid little attention since. At the start it did not mention him being harassed, only that he was not happy because his unit was stated for deployment. By chance do you have a link about his harassment? I have a very slow I-net connection and a search takes a long time. Thanks in advance..
This was a long time ago. 2009!
http://abcnews.go.com/Blotter/nidal-malik-hasan-wanted-army-family/story?id=9008184
I cannot imagine being a Muslim in the service after 9-11. I would bet every penny I have in the bank you will take beaucoup shit.
They should let all the Muslims who cannot handle it leave the military with an Honorable.
A relative of my brother’s wife killed himself out of loneliness and depression due to a “Dear John” letter and the harassment he got from others in the USMC due to him being of the “sissy” Hindu religion.
Our country has become collectively f’d in the head.
BTW, didn’t Zimmerturd keep calling one of his coworkers Achmed the terrorist?
These false macho men ought to read up on some real heroic people – the Mennonites who refused to fight in WW1.
Courage is not fearing death in order to hold up a principle one holds dear to.
Somehow, the right wing thinks courage is beating up on the weak and helpless.
Somehow, I feel this video sums up how I feel about the phony tough.
Boyd, Thank you for the link. I notice things have not changed much in over forty years since I was in the service. I would however not consider the name calling as the primary source of his actions. We could all guess what his true motivation was, but only he knows, and will he ever tell us, who knows. I am sure that the thought of killing his fellow Muslims was weighing heavily on him and that along with his attempt to resign from his commission, would seem to be more a factor than the harassment. But as I said, it was what it was, and we may never know.. I still feel for the families of those who lost their lives as a result of this individual, but I have no sympathy for the murderer..
As for your wanting to let all Muslims who can not handle the military leave with an honorable discharge, I don’t agree with that at all! It is a volunteer military and they went into it by their own will, one should not be allowed to break a contract under those conditions… Perhaps a general discharge under honorable conditions, with loss of all veteran rights could be an acceptable reason, but not an honorable discharge with rights. That would be a slap in the face to all of us who served in combat for this nation and didn’t desert this nation using religion as a reason…
The contract is to protect the Constitution. An illegal was is justification (imo) to get out. Those who do refuse to go end up in the brig but with their integrity intact. And their sentences aren’t forever.
They volunteered for the military, not for being lifelong victims of illegal unconstitutional discrimination and harassment because of their faith. The authorities can put an immediate stop to the harassment, or they can let the victims out, what’s wrong with that?
aussie, The military is not a democracy, nor does it operate under democratic type rules and regulations. Just because one enters into a contract (commission) and then discovers it does not meet his/her ideas of fair, does not give cause to be rewarded for life under said contract. Like I stated before, let them out, however they should forfeit any benefits they “would” have received had they completed (honorably) their contract. Perhaps you did not consider that this man was a commissioned officer and not simply a foot soldier, and as such is/was held to a higher standard of conduct. IMO he chose a poor means of protest by murdering fellow members of the military as a way out of the obligation he had agreed to….
This man is determined to make himself a hero in the eyes of the Muslim regions of the world. I would not allow it. I would place him in prison for life and force feed him a diet of pork….
I’d go along with the prison sentence but no one should be forced to eat pork or anything else that is prohibited for religious or cultural reasons. Giving up our own civility b/c others have just moves us to their uncivil level. In this case, the prison sentence will remove him as a danger to others. Forcing a diet that is prohibited would be revenge. It would also be cruel and inhumane, causing emotional distress and nutritional deprivation.
bettykath, You are correct, I was being sadistic toward the murderer! Could we just dress him with clothing made from the hair and skin of a hog? Ok, you won’t go for that either. I guess we will simply have to accept prison forever and thirty days….
I’ll go along with that if we can throw in appropriate mental health treatment that also respects his religion.
Hasan was obviously incompetent to stand trial when he was tried. But that was not the MOST outrageous piece of this story; the MOST outrageous piece of this story, in my opinion, was the extreme negligence of the Army High Command for Health and Human Services having failed to “decommission” him from treating soldiers for psychiatric problems. There were reports after reports after reports that he was flying off his rocker, and that he was dishing out some pretty abusive “therapy” to the patients who were sent to him. THE FAMILIES of those he killed should sue the ass off the army (and it’s a big one) for wrongful death. Hasan was giving off rays of “I AM GOING NUTS RIGHT HERE RIGHT NOW” for quite a long time and there was NO SECRET about it.
It kind of reminded me of the way the HOA and the SPD failed to act when people complained about Fogen.
If I were related to one of the victims of his rampage, I would be out front and center with a huge civil suit. The Army gets folks to risk their lives, but that does not give it, as an institution, an excuse for deadly negligence.
That’s dreadful. I don’t understand the negligence of bureaucracies. A sad case all around. Too many mentally impaired people in power as well as running around with guns in the USA.
Malisha, OT, and I know you probably read this story, but I can only bring myself to ask, is the right wing now admitting that the Fogdoit killed Trayvon because he was bored and went hunting for a black kid to murder? Is that not what they are saying in this tirade that they are having? Isn’t is strange that the lushbough is now saying that? Hmmm, they never can make up their minds..
http://tv.msnbc.com/2013/08/22/right-wing-seizes-on-racially-motivated-shooting/
The right wing is so full of shit, they are blinded by it.
The Trayvon Martin incident is merely a case amongst thousands that proves a black male is presumed guilty, unless he can get a white person to prove him innocent.
Although the forensic evidence proved beyond a reasonable doubt that George was a liar and the other witness (Trayvon) was dead, there was no convincing evidence presented by a white person to prove that Trayvon was not guilty of a thuggish attack on George. It is that simple and that sad in the mind of a racist.
I think Trayvon’s case is similar to the Charles Stuart case. Charles Stewart was a liar like George who claimed that a black thug killed his wife, although he actually committed the act. The Boston PD dutifully following the axiom that a black person is guilty unless a white proves them innocent, found Willie Bennett. If not for the testimony of a white – Charles brother, Mathew, it is likely that Willie Bennett would have paid for the crime.
In both cases, a white liar pins the blame for a crime on an innocent black person to take advantage of the rule that presumed black guilt and presumed white truthfulness under oath are not to be violated.
In the case of Trayvon, white truthfulness was accepting the word of the gym owner, the Nam Medic, Dunne, the cops, and other as the word of God while totally ignoring any testimony by non-whites or those pesky little forensic problems that made Georgie Poo look like a widdle fibber.
Link to Stuart case:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Stuart_(murderer)
What bothers me are some particularly rabid Fogen supporters who now say that Sybrina and Tracy are responsible for the Chis Lane murder . . . the thought processes these folks engage in are astounding and well . . . there really aren’t any words for this type of stupidity.
They walk away from me quickly when I point out that Sabrina and Tracy raised one fine upstanding well educated and were on their way to number two when he had the misfortune of encountering the sniveling coward deadbeat last in class loser raised by Zimmerman senior.
Maybe I am missing something?
But in what kind of rational world was there ever a reason to call 9-11 on Trayvon.?
I was under the impression that a person who constantly call 9-11 to make charges that end up being baseless was a detriment to society in that there may be a real call about a real danger that gets a delayed response.
Zimmerbots never bring that up, do they?
Whenever their is a killing a black teen or a black attack a white
Trayon M name is mention and we are told he was a thug who
deserve to die because he been caught with stolen goods, he was a street fighter he was looking for someone house to rob and
GZ saw that when look at TM
Similarly, I know a few families who should hate the war machine for various psychological traumas, but instead choose to hate the nations / ethnicities that we wrongfully invaded.
I would place him in prison for life and force feed him a diet of pork….
Why?
Because he is a Muslim and eating pork is against his religion?
…………………..L . O. L ………………………………………
As an alleged man of FAITH /RELIGION .a Muslim he has already broken the biggest commandment of all religions.
Both Christian Doctrine an Muslim Doctrine written in both the Koran an the Bible the number one no no.
He has Murdered other human beings wether there beleivers or none beleivers both christanity an muslim philosophy is a monolithic one God created us all .
Beleivers an non beleivers alike where all given life by A Singular God.
An by killing one of your Gods creations fashioned in his likeness.
You have commiited the ultimate sin
What is a non believer in the eyes of a truly religious soul.
Someone whom has not yet seen the light.
So to think of it killing a non believer is even more of a mortal sin.
As I laughed out loud at forcveing someone to eat pork or not eat fish on a Friday because its against there religion an will up sett them is for one vindictive.
An two pointlessly vindictive because thease khuntz don’t care jack shit about right or wrong or even remotely what faith an religion mean.
If they did they wouldn’t go about on shooting sprees killing innocent strangers an setting themselves up as demi gods here annow with the power to take life.
A grain of stone worn down through the eons into a speck of sand has more compassion an faith than thease broken deviants do.