Fort Hood trial: Vivid testimony, quiet defendant

Hasan admitted to being the shooter and supporting the enemy. Do the Fort Hood victims of his attack get justice now and become eligible for benefits?

Fort Hood trial: Vivid testimony, quiet defendant
USA TODAY
Rick Jervis
August 11, 2013

FORT HOOD, Texas – The first week of the trial of Maj. Nidal Hasan, the radicalized Army psychiatrist accused of killing and wounding unarmed soldiers in a shooting spree here four years ago, had much of the emotional detail and legal jarring observers expected from the military trial.

But one thing was glaringly missing: Hasan's cross-examination of witnesses.

Witnesses and local residents were angered when they heard, months ago, that Hasan would be allowed to represent himself and potentially question many of the same victims he targeted inside the Soldiers Readiness Processing complex on Nov. 5, 2009.

But Hasan has only cross-examined two of the 44 witnesses called to the stand by prosecutors so far – and none of the eyewitnesses to the massacre. Prosecutors say Hasan, 42, killed 13 people, including a pregnant private, and wounded 31 others in the shooting.

His interactions have been limited instead to awkward exchanges with the judge, Col. Tara Osborn, and have centered on his standby defense team's attempts to minimize its role in the proceedings. Hasan faces multiple counts of murder and premeditated murder. If convicted, he could be the first person the U.S. military puts to death in five decades.

In a brief opening statement Tuesday, Hasan admitted to being the shooter in the massacre and swore his allegiance to the mujahideen, or holy warriors.
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