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MAJ Hasan
Article 32, is supposed to begin today.
Here is a link to Wikipedia and a biography of Major Hasan. The Washington Post also has a piece on his life.
The Houston Chronicle has an odd item:
The hearing initially will be devoted to a series of motions. It will resume, probably next month, with a potentially long list of witnesses. One expected motion will seek to change the status of the case from a summary court-martial to general court-martial. The death penalty is allowed in a general court-martial but not in a summary proceeding. “There will be no witnesses or evidence, and the defense will be complaining like it has all along about not getting the necessary discovery,” Galligan said of the hearing, and he predicted it would be a “carefully choreographed” proceeding.
Meanwhile WFAA.com reports that:
But Hasan’s lead defense attorney, Ret. Col. John Galligan, told News 8 that there’s no way he can move forward Tuesday at the Article 32 Hearing, which is similar to a preliminary hearing in the military justice system. Neither evidence nor witnesses will be presented until July 1.
AP reports:
Neither Maj. Nidal Hasan nor any witnesses were expected to speak during the hearing, at which military prosecutors and defense attorneys planned to discuss case preparations and other basic matters. Defense attorney John Galligan said he would seek to delay Hasan’s Article 32 hearing, which is similar to a civilian grand jury proceeding in which a judge hears witness testimony to determine whether the case should go to trial. No date has been set, but authorities have said the could be held as early as July 1. Galligan said the Article 32 hearing should not proceed before Oct. 1 because he still needs key documents, including some of Hasan’s military records, FBI files on Hasan’s alleged contact with a radical Islamic cleric in Yemen months before the shooting, and some government reviews of the shooting rampage. Hasan also is awaiting a mental evaluation, which is to be conducted sometime after the Article 32 hearing.