Fort Hood Shooting: Nidal Hasan Could Be Forced To Shave Beard, Judge Says

[Deberg_1990]

Can we just off this Piece of sh*t right now please? Oh, this story doesnt mention it, but hes also been getting paid his Majors salary for the past 3 years.



http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/0...n_1702779.html




FORT HOOD, Texas — An Army psychiatrist charged with killing 13 people in a shooting rampage at Fort Hood will be forcibly shaved if he doesn't remove his beard himself, a judge said Wednesday.

Maj. Nidal Hasan appeared in court Wednesday sporting a beard as he did during a court appearance last month. The beard violates Army regulations, but Hasan said it is an expression of his Muslim faith.

The judge, Col. Gregory Gross, held Hasan in contempt of court for keeping the beard and fined him $1,000. Fort Hood spokesman Chris Haug said Gross gave Hasan the choice to shave on his own or be forcibly shaved sometime before his court-martial begins Aug. 20.

Hasan again refused to shave and watched the rest of the day's hearing outside the courtroom.

Hasan, 41, is charged with 13 counts of premeditated murder and 32 counts of attempted premeditated murder in the November 2009 massacre, the worst shooting incident on a U.S. military post. He faces the death penalty if convicted.

Until last month, he had been clean-shaven every time he attended court.

But since Hasan grew a beard, he and one of his attorneys have watched the pretrial hearings on closed-circuit television in a trailer near the courthouse. He refuses to shave, and Gross has indicated that Hasan might have to watch the court-martial from the trailer as well.

But on Wednesday, Gross said he wanted Hasan in the courtroom to prevent a possible appeal on the issue if Hasan is convicted.

Hasan's defense attorneys argued that he had not shaved in observance of the holy Islamic month of Ramadan. Ramadan is expected to end just before the court-martial starts.

Also Wednesday, Gross said he would review a copy of a new FBI report on the shootings. The report, made public last week, includes emails Hasan sent to Anwar al-Awlaki, a radical Islamic cleric killed in Yemen last year by a drone strike.

The emails range from rambling messages about supporting terrorists and U.S. soldiers killing comrades in the name of Islam to questions about whether al-Awlaki could help him find a suitable wife. The emails attracted the attention of FBI and anti-terrorism task force agents in December 2008.

But authorities did not pursue a case against Hasan, according to the report, due to a series of gaps and miscommunication errors.

[mikey23545]

I hope instead of shaving cream they use pig fat.

[Chiefshrink]

Originally Posted by mikey23545

I hope instead of shaving cream they use pig fat.

Wouldn't that piss off the "diaper heads" of the world

[listopencil]

He's still in, he still has to honor his obligation. Part of that obligation is adherence to protocol. Including grooming standards. Tough shit if he doesn't like it.

[FishingRod]

One would hope that his pay was being put in escrow or something where they get it back after the trial assuming a guilty verdict. Can't imagine him getting off.

[Deberg_1990]

What a complete joke Hasan has made of the military court system. Now the judge has been thrown out because he showed “bias” by ordering Hasan shave his beard.




http://www.csmonitor.com/USA/Latest-...f-impartiality


A military judge has been thrown off the Fort Hood deadly shooting case after an appeals court found that his treatment of the suspect, including an order to have the man forcibly shaved, indicated a lack of impartiality.

It was not immediately clear what impact the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Armed Forces ruling Monday would have on the long-delayed military trial of Maj. Nidal Hasan. The Army psychiatrist is charged with 13 counts of murder in the 2009 shooting rampage.

Hasan appealed after Col. Gregory Gross ordered that he must be clean-shaven or forcibly shaved before his military trial, which was supposed to begin three months ago. It has been on hold pending the appeals. Hasan has argued that his beard is a requirement of his Muslim faith. Facial hair violates Army regulations.

Could you pass a US citizenship test?

An Army appeals court upheld the shaving requirement in October, but on Monday the appeals court said the command, not the judge, is responsible for enforcing grooming standards.

Gross had repeatedly said Hasan's beard was a disruption to the court proceedings, but the military appeals court ruled there was insufficient evidence to show that was true.

"Should the next military judge find it necessary to address (Hasan's) beard, such issues should be addressed and litigated anew," judges wrote in the ruling.

Gross found Hasan in contempt of court at six pretrial hearings because of his beard and sent him to a trailer to watch the proceedings on a closed-circuit television. The appeals court's ruling also vacated the contempt of court convictions.

The court said it was not ruling on whether the judge's order violated Hasan's religious rights.

Lead defense attorney Lt. Col. Kris Poppe said the judge showed a bias against Hasan when he asked defense attorneys to clean up a court restroom after Gross found a medical waste bag, adult diaper and what appeared to be feces on the floor after a June hearing. Hasan, who is paralyzed from the waist down after being shot by police on the day of the shootings, has to wear adult diapers — but the mess in the restroom that day was mud from a guard's boots, Poppe said.

"In light of these rulings, and the military judge's accusations regarding the latrine, it could reasonably appear to an objective observer that the military judge had allowed the proceedings to become a duel of wills between himself and (Hasan) rather than an adjudication of the serious offenses with which (Hasan) is charged," judges wrote in the ruling.

Fort Hood officials said late Monday that proceedings in the case will resume after a new judge is appointed by the Army's highest legal branch. This indicates Army prosecutors will not appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court.

Hasan faces the death penalty if convicted in the shootings on the Texas Army post that killed 13 people and wounded more than two dozen others.

[Brock]

He hasn't made a joke of it. They've done it to themselves. Used to be you were tried and shot, done, over.

[loochy]

Originally Posted by Brock

He hasn't made a joke of it. They've done it to themselves. Used to be you were tried and shot, done, over.

This.

Hassan has to rofl every night at this circus.

[Dave Lane]

Originally Posted by Brock

He hasn't made a joke of it. They've done it to themselves. Used to be you were tried and shot, done, over.

Really. Why force him to shave his beard? Will it stop bullets?

[Radar Chief]

Originally Posted by Dave Lane

Really. Why force him to shave his beard? Will it stop bullets?

Until he’s convicted he is still a member of the military and the military’s regulations on facial hair are pretty strict, Hassan knew that before he joined.
Thing is he could’ve gotten a waiver to keep facial hair based on his religion had he wanted too but as far as I know he never pursued a waiver so it obviously wasn’t an issue for him until he went on trial for murder.

[loochy]

Originally Posted by Dave Lane

Really. Why force him to shave his beard?

Just to be dicks...which I fully endorse.