FORT HOOD, Texas (AP) — An Army psychiatrist will not be allowed to plead guilty to any charges in the deadly 2009 Fort Hood shooting rampage, a judge ruled Wednesday.
Maj. Nidal Hasan's attorneys previously said he was ready to plead guilty to the 13 counts of premeditated murder he faces in the worst mass shooting on a U.S. military installation, but Army rules prohibit a judge from accepting a guilty plea to charges that carry the death penalty.
Defense attorneys then asked that Hasan be allowed to plead guilty to 13 counts of unpremeditated murder, which does not carry the death penalty.
No guilty pleas would have stopped his murder trial or possibility of being sentenced to death.
But the judge, Col. Tara Osborn, ruled Hasan cannot plead guilty to those lesser charges or the 32 counts of attempted premeditated murder that he also faces. He still would have been tried on the premeditated murder charges, so pleading guilty to the attempted premeditated murder charges could have been used against him at trial, Osborn said.
She also said he would not be allowed to plead guilty to unpremeditated murder and unpremeditated attempted murder, because that "would be the functional equivalent of pleading guilty to a capital offense." A capital offense is a charge that carries the death penalty.
Hasan's court-martial is to start with jury selection May 29 and with testimony July 1 on the Texas Army post.
Zitat but Army rules prohibit a judge from accepting a guilty plea to charges that carry the death penalty.
What a load of crap. This case keeps dragging on because of all this nonsense. Can't go to trial because he has a beard. Can't plead guilty because of this baloney. Anyone remember when the military charged and carried out an execution in less than 30 days? We're over 3 years on the bullshit.
"That question is incompetent, irrelevant and immaterial." -- P. Mason
Zitat but Army rules prohibit a judge from accepting a guilty plea to charges that carry the death penalty.
What a load of crap. This case keeps dragging on because of all this nonsense. Can't go to trial because he has a beard. Can't plead guilty because of this baloney. Anyone remember when the military charged and carried out an execution in less than 30 days? We're over 3 years on the bullshit.
They are preventing the mass murderer from dodging the death sentence. Let justice run its course.
Zitat but Army rules prohibit a judge from accepting a guilty plea to charges that carry the death penalty.
What a load of crap. This case keeps dragging on because of all this nonsense. Can't go to trial because he has a beard. Can't plead guilty because of this baloney. Anyone remember when the military charged and carried out an execution in less than 30 days? We're over 3 years on the bullshit.
They are preventing the mass murderer from dodging the death sentence. Let justice run its course.
I don't understand this...She also said he would not be allowed to plead guilty to unpremeditated murder and unpremeditated attempted murder, because that "would be the functional equivalent of pleading guilty to a capital offense." A capital offense is a charge that carries the death penalty.
I thought unpremeditated would remove the dp option
RIGHT'S RIGHT 
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Wed Mar 20, 2013 10:27 pm
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