After years of delays and just two weeks of testimony, military prosecutors rested their case Tuesday in the court-martial of Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan.
Hasan, 42, is charged with 13 counts of premeditated murder and 32 counts of attempted premeditated murder in connection with the shooting at this central Texas Army base on Nov. 5, 2009. If convicted, the Army psychiatrist could face the death penalty.
Prosecutors summoned nearly 90 witnesses and submitted hundreds of pieces of evidence to build their case against Hasan, arguing that the American-born Muslim was motivated by radical militant beliefs to plan his attack on fellow soldiers after he had been ordered to deploy to Afghanistan.
The final few witnesses provided dramatic testimony Tuesday, including a civilian who photographed Hasan during the shooting, a soldier who saw him trade gunfire with police, and doctors who said Hasan told them he wanted to avoid deploying.
Years before the shooting, Hasan had applied for a two-year fellowship to avoid deploying, a military psychiatrist who worked with him testified. Weeks before the shooting, Hasan talked to another doctor at Ft. Hood about what would happen if the Army ordered him to deploy.
“The last thing he said to me was ‘They will pay,’” Dr. Tonya Kozminski testified.
Read more: Los Angeles Times
