'They will pay,' witness says Hasan threatened

Finger four flight over Afghanistan

Govt. rests after 11 days of trial

Ft. Hood – If forced to deploy to the combat zone in Afghanistan, said former Army psychiatrist Nidal Malik Hasan, “they will pay.”

The accused gunman in fact applied for and did not get a two-year “follow on” fellowship for further training as an Army doctor, according to another of the five final witnesses, who said he did so in an effort to delay his deployment.

Following a review of the witness list Hasan furnished earlier in the trial, Judge (Col.) Tara Osborn learned that Hasan does not wish to call Dr. Lewis Rambo, a religious conversion expert. The judge ordered government prosecutors to make sure Dr. Rambo is available to testify should Hasan change his mind.

Photographer Steven Bennett testified he made pictures of an individual he identified as Hasan as he engaged two police officers in a gunfight that ended the deadly rampage, an attack with a sophisticated handgun that left 13 persons dead and more than 30 wounded on Nov. 5, 2009.

Prosecutors read a stipulated version of the deposition taken from the police officer who ended the violent onslaught with three shots to the center of Hasan's chest with a 9 mm semiautomatic pistol. Officer Mark Todd is unable to testify due to a speech impediment he developed after his experience on that day, according to previous testimony. Hasan offered no objection.

He will begin presentation of his defense on Wednesday, August 21, at 9 a.m. He is representing himself before the General Court Martial against 13 specifications of premeditated murder and 32 of premeditated attempted murder. If the panel members return a unanimous verdict of guilt for the multiple premeditated murder allegations, he will receive an automatic sentence of death by lethal injection.