Hasan may plead out to lesser charges
The Associated Press reports that Colonel Tara Olsen, the judge in the Nidal Hasan Fort Hood murder case is considering whether or not to allow Hasan to plead guilty to lesser charges of unpremeditated murder;
Any plea, which could happen at the next hearing in March, won’t stop the much-anticipated court-martial set to begin May 29. He faces the death penalty or life in prison without parole if convicted of 13 counts of premeditated murder.
Under military law, a judge can’t accept a guilty plea for charges that carry the death penalty. Hasan’s lawyers have said he is ready to plead guilty to charges of unpremeditated murder, which don’t carry a possible death sentence, as well as the 32 attempted premeditated murder charges he faces.
If the judge, Col. Tara Osborn, allows him to plead guilty, she will hold an inquiry in which Hasan must discuss the attack. If he says anything that isn’t consistent with what happened or indicates he isn’t truly acknowledging his guilt, the judge would stop the hearing and not accept his guilty plea, according to military law experts. He is not required to apologize or say that he is remorseful.
Yeah, so all it would be is a forum like Breanna Manning’s little theater the other day where he gets to tell everyone why he murdered 14 people. I’m not interested in hearing it.
Category: Terror War
I wouldn’t let that sonovabitch plead out to anything short of life in front of a firing squad. But that’s just me.
As we said where I grew up: OH HELL NO!
What Hassan deserves is to be staked down next to an in ant hill with honey poured on various body parts, then let nature take its course.
The needle is a far better and easier end than he deserves. Anything less than that would be an inane travesty.
My problem with this whole stinkin’ pile of shit is not the bastards guilt or innocence; that the event was publicly named “Workplace Violence”, rather than “Islamic Jihad” as he suggested with his “Allahu Ackbar” shouting. We are at WAR with Radical Islam, on several fronts, and that room, in that building, at Ft. Hood, Texas, on November 5, 2009; was but one more terrorist act, in “THEIR” war against “The Great Satan”. Each of those who went down, or were wounded, was in a combat zone. Just because they were ambushed “Stateside”, does not lessen the fact that they were killed in the name of Allah. Workplace Violence is for the Kool-Ade drinkers.
Can’t be so, frankly opinionated. Islam’s the “religion of peace” – didn’t you get the memo?
Oh, wait – that memo said “religion of hack you to pieces”. Never mind.
It is entirely possible that Hassan will launch into a Manning like justification for his actions with calls to jihad against the kuffar, praise for fellow terrorists and ending with a loud “allahu akbar”. Not only would this be a massive embarrassment to the administration, but a vindication for those who have correctly called it. As a true believer, I doubt he will be able to stop himself. It will be his last shot at telling America what he thinks of it and his only shot to cement his reputation with the jihadists.
This piece of slaves’ offal is nothing but a coward.
Squawking over growing a beard? BS
Unpremeditated murder? BS
Now, I know you guys are snorting and pawing the ground to have a go at Hassan, but if the judge wants to let him ramble, then so be it. She’s the only who has to listen to his drivel.
No matter what, he’ll be locked up for life or dead, and that’s the end of it. I’d like to see that sentence include no human contact.
He’s a boring, self-center, whiny pissant. He’s a coward, a looter and a pillager.
He is not worth your anger.
Sooooo, this is what I spent 24 years of my life defending? For the first time in my life, I am ashamed of my country. We seem to be following Robert Heinlein’s sci-fi time line in that we are now in the “Crazy Years”.
I think I’ll spend the day doing small arms maintenance.
I would rather that it be death, not life without parole.
Let’s be generous and call it $1000 for whatever means is used (bullets, electricity, injection) to off this offal.
Versus multi- thousands per year for incarceration, medical, lawyers, etc – for the rest of his miserable existance.
Plus, he gets to meet and make peace with his maker (above or below) that much sooner.
Fucking bullshit. He should be allowed to confess and then be executed. This plea bargaining crap is bullshit and sells out everyone that was hurt or killed by that scumbag.
I need some damn range therapy now
#9, this isn’t a plea bargain. If the death penalty trial is still going to happen, then he hasn’t been given anything in exchange for this plea. Since there is a contested trial in May, there will be no sentencing hearing when he pleads guilty in March, assuming he does. There will simply be “providency” – that is, he will say he is guilty, and the judge will ask him a lot of questions about “what happened” to make sure he really believes he is guilty, and that the things he says he did make him guilty of the crime he’s pleading guilty to. These will be limited to facts proving his guilt – he’ll talk about how he shot them and how they are dead, and how he specifically intended them to die, and so forth. It may be that he won’t even talk about his motives – because he’s not pleading to “premeditation” his prior plans are not so important. It’s up to the judge how far she wants to go into that, and you don’t actually need a motive to establish guilt, as long as he admits he intended to kill. There will then be a contested trial in May, in front of a panel (military jury). Assuming they convict him of premeditated murder, they will be told that he pleaded guilty to unpremeditated murder (the most he could plead to under the circ’s) and will be able to take that into account in deciding the penalty. I don’t think he’s using it as “theater” because, if he wants to do that, he can do that at his contested trial. If he is planning to do that, it will probably be at his sentencing hearing. He can say anything he wants then. The only benefit this plea can give him is to use this plea as ammunition to try to convince the panel that he “stood up and took responsibility” for his crimes. (“And he would’ve pleaded guilty even to this crime, only he wasn’t allowed to by law. And he pleaded even without a plea deal.… Read more »
How. the. hell. can. he. plea. to. lesser. charges????? UFB.
The military justice system has its faults, but an excess of mercy is not among them.
As a consequence of the wounds received during his capture, Hasan will require a lot of medical care for the rest of his life. That will cost us, the taxpayers, more in taxes with zero benefit – no benefit for the common defense, and no promoting the general welfare.
I’m sure Hasan wished to commit suicide-by-cop. He failed in that endeavor. I am also sure the tactics put forward by his counsel is meant to keep Hasan alive. If the lawyer succeed in keeping Hasan alive, he will likely commit suicide as soon as an opportunity presents itself.
We have a perfect confluence between societal needs, the desire for revenge and for justice, and Hasan’s desire to self-eliminate. Now to see if the military justice system suddenly develops the notion of mercy and puts Hasan to death.
Let him plead guilty to “workplace violence.” Then hang him for being a terrorist.
#11, easily. You can always do that. Usually a person does it because the government has agreed to drop the greater charges. In this case the government has not agreed to do any such thing. So he can plead to unpremeditated murder, and the government can still go ahead and try to convict him of premeditated, capital murder.
(I’ve seen plenty of cases like that – for example, a guy pleads guilty to AWOL but the government goes ahead and proves desertion.)
The only wrinkle here is that Hasan is not allowed to plead guilty to the full-fledged premeditated murder – because the government is seeking the death penalty. The law is that you have to have a contested case when the death penalty is on the table. I don’t know if this is based on Supreme Court case law or not; I just know that’s what the law is, and I assume it’s designed to prevent extra issues on appeal.
He can try to convince the panel not to order his execution, partly based on the fact that he did plead guilty to everything he could. But he can’t take the death penalty off the table himself just by pleading to the lesser offense.
There may be reasons to get angry about this case – but the fact that Hasan is allowed to plead guilty to the lesser included offense is not one of them.
(By the way, I wouldn’t use the term “plead out” here – at least in my personal lawyerslang, “pleading out” is what happens when the government drops the greater charge in return for a plea to the lesser; however I am subject to correction by others who use the word differently.)
Hondo (#2), substitute bacon fat for honey and you’ve got my agreement.
How about bladder stones right up to the last minute? Or if he gets life instead, jock itch and no way to scratch it.