Fort Hood shooting: Hasan could begin defence

U.S. Army Maj. Nidal Hasan was told he could start his defense Wednesday after prosecutors rested in his military trial for the 2009 Fort Hood massacre. It was not clear if Hasan, who is representing himself against charges he killed 13 people and injured 32 others, would make any case or take the stand in his own defense. He initially had told the court he intended to call himself and two witnesses to the stand to discuss religious justification for his actions. He has argued he walked into the medical deployment center on the Killeen, Texas, base on Nov. 5, 2009, to kill as many soldiers as he could as part of a jihad to protect Muslims and Taliban leaders from troops heading to Afghanistan. The mass shooting was the worst shooting at a U.S. military base. But Hasan, a U.S.-born Muslim, told the military judge, Col. Tara Osborn, Tuesday he no longer wished to call Lewis Rambo, an expert on religious conversion. On Monday he said he would not call Tim Jon Semmerling, who specializes in mitigating factors in criminal cases. Osborn ordered Rambo to appear in court nonetheless Wednesday to confer with Hasan before he made a decision. "Then if you decide you don't want to have him as a witness after you talk face-to-face, then that's fine," she said. Hasan, 42, who is paralyzed from the waist down as a result of a gunshot wound he received during the shooting, is charged with 13 counts of premeditated murder and 32 counts of attempted premeditated murder in the shooting spree. He began the court-martial Aug. 7 by telling the jury of 13 senior Army officers he was the gunman. "The evidence will clearly show that I am the shooter." he said. If convicted, the Army psychiatrist could face the death penalty or life in prison without parole. "If you choose to testify, it is your choice and your choice solely," Osborn told Hasan. "If you do testify, you have to ask yourself questions. ... You can't simply give a statement. It has to be in a question-and-answer format." Hasan has no legal training, and his former military attorneys, who Osborn has ordered to remain as legal advisers, have said he doesn't take their advice because he wants a death sentence. The prosecution rested Tuesday afternoon after calling nearly 90 witnesses in 11 days. Among the final prosecution witnesses was a civilian who testified he photographed Hasan during the shooting. Asked if he recognized the man in the courtroom, Bennett pointed at Hasan, identifying him as "the bearded individual." Hasan has refused to shave, citing his religious beliefs. The last prosecution witness was a doctor who worked with Hasan at Fort Hood's medical center in the weeks before the attack. Dr. Tonya Kozminski testified Hasan told her before the shooting there would be consequences if the Army deployed him to Afghanistan. He earlier said he considered himself a conscientious objector on religious grounds. "The last thing he said to me was, 'They will pay,'" Kozminski testified. The unit he was to deploy with was ordered to report for processing Nov. 5, 2009.