Fort Hood suspect's lead attorney steps down

Forbes ^ | July 20, 2011 | Angela K. Brown

[La Enchiladita]

FORT HOOD, Texas -- The lead attorney for the man charged in the 2009 deadly [terrorist attack] rampage at Fort Hood says he is stepping down from the case temporarily.

His announcement on Wednesday came shortly before Maj. Nidal Hasan's first court appearance since it was announced he'll face the death penalty. It was unclear if Hasan was going to enter a plea at his arraignment on the Texas Army post.

[La Enchiladita]

Delay tactic?

[bgill]

Gee, wow, who’da thunk he’d be facing the death penalty?!?

[WayneS]

“Sorry, fella, I’m stumped. Bye!

Advice? Sure, I’ve got some advice for you: RELAX when they get ready to insert the needle. Tensing up will just cause it to hurt when they jab it in your arm...”

[definitelynotaliberal]

What is wrong with these people? He’s not the ‘suspect’, he did it in plain view of dozens of people!

[LeoWindhorse]

Hasan does not need an attorney , he only needs a long rope

[Sir Napsalot]

Pretty unprofessional, I’d say. When the lead attorney took on this case, that (possible death penalty) had never come across his mind?

Another thing, what can that traitor be plea bargaining for?

Instead of we shoot you a dozen times, electrocuted you, then insert the needle, you are going to get execution by starvation? [Mort Kondracke told me death by withholding food and water produces a kind of euphoria because of elevated ketone in blood stream or something.]

[KarlInOhio]

What ever happens, they should make sure his gallows has a ramp so it follows the Americans with Disabilities Act.

[PhilDragoo]

Witnesses said that a gunman wearing an Army combat uniform shouted "Allahu Akbar!" - which is Arabic for "God is great!" - and opened fire in a small but crowded medical building where deploying soldiers are vaccinated and undergo other tests. The gunman fired rapidly, pausing only to reload, even shooting some people as they hid under tables or fled the building, witnesses said.

Some witnesses identified the gunman as Hasan, an American-born Muslim who was scheduled to deploy to Afghanistan the following month. Before the attack, Hasan bought a laser-equipped semiautomatic handgun and repeatedly visited a firing range, where he honed his skills by shooting at the heads on silhouette targets, witnesses testified during the hearing.

[Cicero]

Seems like a delay tactic to me. And I’m sure everyone involved will be happy to oblige.

[jagusafr]

Galligan has been trying to get his clearances reinstate so he can review classified documents. Maybe this is a protest against the perceived slow-rolling of his clearance. Or maybe the retainer’s run out...

Colonel, USAFR

[ken5050]

He is still getting paid. Whe does that insanity stop?

[soycd]

Yet another murderous, suicidal POS gets to take the easy way out with a needle or some other humane sentence. He needs to be
on public display while having his flesh slowly and painfully abused for at long as he can live. Examples need to be made to help
discourage future trash from harming others. Make it a point to capture these vermin and give them a life sentence of pain.

Their living victims are in pain for life and so they should share in it.

[Sir Napsalot]

Sorry, didn’t go into detail about the lead attorney’s reasoning for stepping down.

But he should have done it sooner, instead of shortly before that traitor’s first court appearance.

[Realman30]

Let's see if CNN devotes 'round the clock' coverage to this trial like they did Casey Anthony.

. . . something tells me they won't.

[Astronaut]

Or Fox News for that matter. Where is the slimebag Geraldo? Will he tell us that Jihadi Maj. Hassan was innocent?

[elcid1970]

IIRC, Galligan is a JAG renegade whose retirement consists of defending troublemakers charged under UCMJ, so Hasan seemed to be right up his alley until he decided that he’s truly stymied by the preponderance of evidence.

My theory has been that when Hasan goes down, his chain of command may go down with him, with implications reaching all the way up to the former Army chief of staff, who managed to issue a seventy-five page preliminary report on the Fort Hood massacre without once mentioning the words “Muslim” or “Islam”.

Maybe that’s one reason Galligan won’t get his clearances back. Too many cats escaping from too many bags if he gets to introduce classified evidence at the court-martial. And he probably can’t be trusted not to leak it to the media anyway.

Meanwhile, Hasan gets to rot in jail paralyzed, so there’s at least some justice. No virgins for you, O Muslim.

[jimnm]

The lawyer took the case without possessing the security clearance he needed to view elements of the evidence. He has been trying to get the clearance for awhile now and hasn’t...I guess he’s trying to get them to cave and give it to him. The jihadi is clearly guilty and what the lawyer wants only further damns the jihadi as it relates to his messages with other jihadis.

[NonValueAdded]

could it be that he’s not death-certified? That would explain stepping aside temporarily.

[El Gato]

Not all the soldiers were deploying, some were returning from being deployed. The pregnant soldier who was shot, along with her unborn baby, the 14th murder victim, was being processed out of the Army. According to several eyewitnesses, per testimony at the Article 32 hearing, said her last words were:

"My Baby! My Baby!".

I'd proudly participate in the firing squad, or pull the lever on the gallows, if we weren't "too civilized" to execute such slime in those ways.

[El Gato]

Before the attack, Hasan bought a laser-equipped semiautomatic handgun

Incidentally, the Killeen paper reports that a man walked in to that same gun store, Guns Galore, asked to handle a gun, and then proceeded to load it and shoot himself in the head.

http://www.kdhnews.com/news/story.aspx?s=58499&q=Guns+Galore