Hasan: 'Behavioral indicators' and 'unlawful influence'

Lawyers need more time to prepare
FORT HOOD — A military judge will consider postponing until October the trial of Maj. Nidal Hasan. 

His attorneys asked that the trial be delayed from June until October, saying they need more time to review the large volumes of evidence in the case.

The judge, Col. Gregory Gross, previously delayed the court-martial from March until June.

Col. Gross has given no indication when he will decide on the defense’s second request for a postponement.

Major Hasan is charged with 13 counts of premeditated murder and 32 counts of attempted premeditated murder. He faces the death penalty if convicted in the November 2009 shootings on the Texas Army post.

Defense attorneys want to determine if anything was discussed that may have unlawfully influenced Hasan’s chain of command to prosecute him.

Unlawfully influenced them to prosecute him?

Was there ever a possibility that he would not be prosecuted for murdering 13 unarmed Americans in an Islamic jihad attack?