Following a brief hearing at Ft. Hood this morning, Col. James Pohl refused a request by alleged Ft. Hood gunman Maj. Nadal Hasan to close Hasan's upcoming Article 32 hearing to the media, and to relatives of the victims.Pohl, who is the hearing officer in Hasan's court martial, said keeping the hearing open would 'preserve the integrity of the military justice process.'
Hasan is charged with 13 specifications of premeditated murder and 32 specifications of attempted premeditated murder in connection with a shooting spree at a military processing center at the sprawling central Texas Army post last November.
The counts carry the possibility of the death penalty, but federal prosecutors have not yet said whether they will seek that punishment.
Defense attorney John Galligan says prosecutors are trying to 'rush his client to judgment.
"If the decision is made that the military-judicial process, the court martial process, is going to be used in a manner that disregards the defendant's rights, then get out of the way," Galligan said.
Today's ruling clears the way for Hasan's Article 32 hearing, which is the miltiary equivalent of a grand jury, to take place as scheduled at Ft. Hood October 12.
Under the Uniform Code of Military Justice, Pohl at that hearing, which is the equivalent of a civilian grand jury, will question the 32 people who were wounded in the incident, as well as other witnesses.
He will then rule on whether the case should proceed to a court martial, in which a panel of officers of higher rank than Hasan will act as the jury.
The Article 32 hearing may possibly be ongoing on November 5, which will be the first anniversary of the incident. If so, Pohl has indicated he will not hold court on that date.
Hasan, an Army psychiatrist, is paralyzed from the chest down due to four gunshot wounds he suffered at the hands of two civilian security officers who stepped in to stop his rampage, and he is housed in a special hospital wing of the Bell County Jail in nearby Belton.
He also continues to receive his full major's pay, of about $72,000 a year,s while he awaits court martial.