Major Nidal Malik Hasan won’t face an Article 32 hearing under the Uniform Code of Military Justice until June 1. That’s according to Belton solo John Galligan; he represents Hasan, the Army psychiatrist who allegedly went on a shooting spree at Fort Hood on Nov. 5, 2009. Initially, Hasan's Article 32 hearing, a procedural event somewhat comparable to a grand jury hearing in a civilian court, had been scheduled for March 1. But Galligan and Margaret Brewster, a spokeswoman for Fort Hood military commanders, confirm that Hasan's defense lawyers requested the delay and the commanders supervising the investigation of Hasan agreed. Galligan also persuaded the commanders, he and Brewster confirm, to delay the work of a board to determine Hasan’s sanity until after the Article 32 hearing. Galligan represents Hasan with appointed military defense counsel Major Christopher E. Martin. On the day of the shooting, Hasan was injured, and he remains paralyzed from the waist down. Galligan writes in an e-mail that the defense argued that the sanity board hearing and the Article 32 hearing were “being held prematurely — Major Hasan remains hospitalized until at least the end of the month; he is not in any physical condition to endure the rigors of an Article 32 hearing.” Galligan also writes that he continues to object to prosecutors’ proposed composition of the sanity board, which, as currently planned, would include Department of Defense mental health professionals. Brewster confirms that many issues related to the composition of the sanity board and discovery requests associated with the Article 32 hearing are still the subject of discussion among Hasan’s defense counsel, the prosecutors and the commanders.
-- Miriam Rozen
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