No Delay for Trial of Fort Hood Shooting Suspect

(AP) No delay for trial of Fort Hood shooting suspect
FORT HOOD, Texas
A military judge has refused to delay this month’s trial of an Army psychiatrist charged in the deadly 2009 shooting rampage at Fort Hood in Central Texas.

Maj. Nidal Hasan’s attorneys on Thursday had sought to delay the court-martial to Sept. 1. They said military jurors might be influenced by recent national media coverage of the Boston Marathon bombings that compared the suspects, two Muslim brothers, to Hasan.

Prosecutors said the delay was unnecessary because Hasan was mentioned only briefly in some news reports about the Boston attacks.

Jury selection in Hasan’s trial is to start May 30, with testimony to begin July 1.

Hasan faces the death penalty or life in prison without parole if convicted of 13 counts of premeditated murder and 32 counts of attempted premeditated murder.