Hasan jurors' task in sorting out reality of murders

The red X marks the spot where Hasan stood to rain lead on his victims
- Drawing by TV sketch artist Brigitte Woosley

Judge's instructions exacting, precise

Ft. Hood – Listening to PFC Michael Pearson die on the 911 audio made after Nidal Malik Hasan shot him and more than 30 other persons is a painful experience. Pearson moans and wails as his life's blood pours out of his body and a civilian employee sits under a desk, a phone in her hand. In maddening persistence, an emergency operator continues to ask inane question after inane question.

“What is your emergency?” “What is your location?” “What is your name?” “Where is he shot?” “Is the shooter still there?”

It's not a simple task, but it's exacting enough to make your hair hurt while you listen to the judge rattle off the jury instructions that go with the lengthy set of murder specifications that go with the alleged murder of Private Pearson and 12 other soldiers and civilians.

Thirteen senior field grade Army officers are sitting in judgement of a medical officer, a psychiatrist accused of capital murder of 13 unarmed persons – most of them men and women with whom he was scheduled to deploy to Afghanistan in violation of his beliefs as a devout devotee of Islam – the religion named for “peace.”

Here are some highlights of what Judge (Col.) Tara Osborn detailed as necessary findings to either convict or acquit the accused of any of 13 counts of premeditated murder or 32 counts of attempted premeditated murder.

The Government has to have proven that Hasan, and no other person, attacked Mr. Pearson; that Mr. Pearson is dead; that his death resulted from an act committed by the accused, the unlawful discharge of a firearm; that it was an unlawful act, a murder committed in violation of Article 118 of the Uniform Code of Military Justice; and that the act was premeditated.

For each of the additional victims, the judge explained, the same elements of proof apply, the only difference being the name of the victim.

Premeditation in legal terms is not presupposed by any particular length of time. Proving that an actor raised a weapon and discharged it by pulling the trigger is enough to prove premeditation, the judge said.

In the cases of attempted premeditated murder, it is only necessary to prove that the actor went through the same motions, but failed to cause the death of the intended victim in the attempted murder through “a substantial step in the direction of killing.”

“Your duty is to determine the facts, apply the facts and determine the guilt or innocence of the accused,” she said. In all cases of conflict, they must trust her word and no one else's as to the black and white letter of the law.

Evidentiary elements are just as exacting.

The fact that the accused remained silent, did not tetify in his own behalf, and made no closing statement is to be ignored. No inference of guilt may be made from his exercising his absolute right to remain silent.

Intent may be determined either by direct evidence, as in witness testimony or personal observation, or by circumstantial evidence from which one may reasonably infer a conclusion, such as the fact of wet streets reasonably considered as an indication of recent rainfall.

The performance of a military duty can be considered mitigating evidence, but, the judge was careful to point out, jurors may not consider an inference of bad character from the fact that the actor shot with a gun a pregnant female soldier while she pleaded, “My baby, my baby!”

“You may not conclude from this evidence that the accused is a bad person.”

If the Government has failed to prove any of these elements, they must acquit, and then take up the consideration of lesser charges, such as voluntary manslaughter, involuntary manslaughter, or aggravated assault with a deadly weapon.

To assess the death penalty in the punishment phase, the panel must have made a finding by unanimous decision of guilt for premeditated murder of at least one victim, and murder, premeditated or not, of an additional person, according to an Army spokesman.

Hasan jury hears officer testimony read again

Recesses for the night

Ft. Hood – The jury panel sent a message to the judge asking to have the stipulated testimony from the man who cut down Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan in the middle of his murderous attack on Nov. 5, 2009, read back to them.

Then they requested to recess from their delibertions for the night.

According to the agreed stipulation of expected testimony given by Officer Mark Todd, he fired 5 shots at the former Army psychiatrist after pursuing him around the building and taking cover between cars in the parking lot.

When he saw Hasan wince a couple of times, he said in his deposition, he knew he had hit him, and watched as the doctor slid down a telephone pole where he had taken cover.

Court proceedings will resume at 9 a.m. Friday, August 23, when jurors resume their deliberations in the guilt or innocence phase of the General Court Martial. 

Former Army shrink declined to make final argument

An artist's depiction of the prosecution's final argument in U.S. v. Nidal Malik Hasan

Ft. Hood – Jurors received the case against Major Nidal Malik Hasan after lunch when court reconvened at 1:45 p.m. CST. During their deliberations, the accused will be allowed to recline on a cot placed in the well of the courtroom, the judge hearing the case ordered. He is paralyzed from the chest down.

The accused declined to deliver a final argument after a prosecutor, Col. Steven Henricks, made a masterful presentation of evidence and testimony that he said boiled down a a few key elements.

“There is no doubt,” he told a panel of 13 fellow field grade senior officers, of the accused officer's premeditation in the deadly shooting of 13 persons who were all dressed in the Army's combat uniform on Nov. 5, 2009.

He asked for a unanimous verdict of guilty on all 13 specifications of premeditated murder and 32 of attempted preditated murder because Maj. Hasan chose to make his deadly assault on that particular day knowing that two Army Reserve units with whom he was scheduled to deploy to Afghanistan would be there.

Only a unanimous verdict of guilt will clear the way for a sentence of death by lethal injection.

He proceeded to outline more than 20 elements that he said proves premeditation, including the fact that the pistol he used was chosen for both a high degree of accuracy and a high capacity of rounds, that it was equipped with two laser sights that shone beams of both red and green so that it would contrast with the green fabric of Army combat fatigues, and on a clipboard he carried his medical records and a “green sheet” that detailed the complement of soldiers who would be in Building 42003 of the Soldier Readiness Program for inoculations, tests and updates to their records as a “subterfuge.”

“It doesn't require any evidence because it's no coincidence,” he declared during his two-hour presentation that meticulously detailed three elements of proof, including preparation for the attack, witness testimony, and evidence of his motives for his murderous actions.

They are two-fold, he told the panel. First, he did not want to deploy to the combat zone in Afghanistan. He recalled witness testimony that established he had said that if he was deployed, “They will pay.”

Secondly, he reminded jurors that he shouted “Allahu akbar” at the outset of his attack and said that is prima facie evidence that rather than take the saturation approach of a suicide bomber, he chose the more surgical approach of one who acts on the instruction of a fatwa, displaying “an intent to become a smart bomb.”

Earlier, the Army Judge, Col. Tara Osborn, instructed the jurors that both direct and circumstantial evidence is sufficient to convict on any of the specifications, but that if less than a majority of 9 votes are cast for guilt, they must consider lesser charges of unpremeditated murder or aggravated assault with a deadly weapon in the case of those whom the accused only wounded.

A unanimous vote of guilt in at least two of the specifications of premeditated murder is required to assess the death penalty.

Watchdogwire.com/Texas will follow the case through its sentencing phase.

Wal-Mart veteran has streamlined plan for Bosque

Meridian – You look at the resumé, and, you realize right away, Dewey Ratliff is at heart a manager - and a trouble shooter.

Dewey Ratliff (r) chats up DA B. J. Shepherd (l)

It just jumps off the page.

Wearing the hat of Emergency Management Coordinator, he has done all the things he wants to do as an elected official, County Judge.

“I'm crossing over to the dark side,” he says with a chuckle. “I always said I would never put my name on a ballot.”

According to his campaign announcement, “expanding the tax base, professional budget planning and cash-flow management” are goals for what has become essentially an elected position of county executive.

Tax base? The truth is, state and federal government has for the past 10 years that Ratliff has held his position of emergency boss pushed unfunded mandates on a rural county with a limited source of revenues.

What to do?

Write a grant, get it approved, and get funding for the things it takes to stay abreast of the demands of a 21^st century world from within the matrix of an ancient and honorable system of “Court” handed down from the days of the Shireve, the Lord of the Manor, and all the other growing pains that came out of the world of an island nation far across seas emerging from the dark ages in a cleaner, greener world managed from blood-spattered castles far from Texas.

His vision, “to create an environment which allows the county to become more efficient,” is rooted in his experience as a Wal-Mart manager who operated retail stores of 125,000 square feet, annual sales of $50 million and $35,000 weekly payrolls.

Just in time inventory control, consolidation of employees, and turning work forces of 300 who had never shopped in a Wal-Mart store are routine challenges.

Where does the money come from?

It's more of an exercise in looking for where it goes, according to a statement on Ratliff's Facebook page.

“Traditionally, commissioners are tasked with the maintenance of roads and bridges,” he wrote.

The reality is this. They “often delegate that specific duty to their shop foreman.” The result is simple enough, they are “paid a full-time salary for part-time work.”

Four precinct road commissioners get paid $40,000 a year to make two meetings a month. That is a total of $160,000 a year for two days work each month, he reasons.

Halve those salaries and hire a civil engineer to supervise road and bridge maintenance and operations, said Ratliff, when he tossed his hat in the ring.

He wants to consolidate the precincts and tables of equipment and organization into a unified system, sell off the surplus property, and manage from a single source of supply and resources.

His background: an undergraduate degree in aeronautics, MBA from Notre Dame and Mendoza College of Business, experience in the Army, as a headhunter for industry and finance.

The challenges: water planning, a viable financing system for emergency medical services.

His past track record wearing multiple hats: Homeland Security Director, Floodplain Administrator, Loss Control Coordinator, Radio and Network Communications System Administrator, Incident Management Team, and 911 Addressing.

To get those jobs done, he brought in $4 million in federal grants to the county. The people paid their taxes, but they had to apply to get the benefits. This guy handled the process, and it worked.

Ratliff is “blessed” with three teenagers and a wife named Julie Pederson who is an emergency room nurse and a certified social worker. They all live on a family farm in the Norse Community.

The bottom line: “We can improve the effectiveness of how we spend taxpayer's money.”

An evaluation from a former supervisor, Kathie McWherter, Director of Integration at Wal-Mart International, “Dewey is a well-balanced individual who knows when to look at the big picture and when to focus on detail. He is a great leader of people and will always do the right things in the right way.” 

Accused gunman rests defense with no questions

Judge, lawyers preparing jury instructions

Ft. Hood – Gleeful peals of amused laughter rippled through the crowd of national media representatives seated in the packed confines of the overflow digital courtroom when Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan rested his defense with three laconic words.

“The defense rests.”

As court proceedings opened for the day in his general court martial for 13 specifications of premeditated murder and 32 specifications of premeditated attempted murder, Judge (Col.) Tara Osborn was at pains to assure herself that two defense witnesses he had deleted from his list were present and ready to testify if called.

They are Dr. Tim Jon Semmerling, a mitigation consultant who specializes in death penalty cases, and Dr. Rambo, a similar consultant. Hasan made it clear he would call neither.

And then the judge said, “Major Hasan, you may proceed.”

Hearing his answer, she sat silently for long moments, then went back to work.

She immediately asked him if he wished for her to instruct the panel of jurors that is his right to remain silent after she had admonished him. Legally, no inference of guilt may attach to his choice, she said

“Major Hasan, your decision controls.”

Judge Osborn dismissed members of the panel for the day, to return on Thursday morning, August 22, to receive instructions agreed upon by prosecution, defense, and the bench.

She told the prosecution she wished them to prepare two instruction sheets for the panel, one with instructions as to how to find Hasan guilty of voluntary manslaughter, the other without.

Prior to making that decision, she sought the opinion of the prosecution.

“Your honor, we don't see that as an option.”

Why?

“Your honor, passion would equate to a motive.”

Manslaughter is a finding jurors may make if they see that an actor was inflamed by his reaction to a happening, and was either unable to cool from the heat of his passion before acting, or chose to disregard the consequences of his actions due to his emotional state.

He cited the fact that Maj. Hasan drove to Ft. Hood, his pockets stuffed with paper towels to stop the many magazines of 5.7 x 28 mm FN Herstal ammunition he loaded from rattling, and then sat in Station 13, his elbows on his knees, his head in his hands, until he decided to tell a civilian data entry clerk go to a rear office to see the Officer in Charge in order to respond to an emergency.

Testimony elicited during the case in chief indicated his intent to target only soldiers dressed in the Army's combat uniform during the deadly handgun attack that left 13 persons dead, more than 30 wounded, and resulted in the charges of premeditated murder and attempted murder.

The judge then instructed the defense and the prosecution to prepare instructions for jurors, and gave prosecutors an assignment of preparing one worksheet with instructions for a finding of voluntary manslaughter, the other without.

They will work the rest of the day on their task, preparing the judge to instruct the jury panel at 9 a.m. on Thursday, August 22 prior to their deliberations.

Hasan's former attorney releases enigmatic e-mails

Belton – Colonel John Galligan, the attorney formerly appointed to represent Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan, released two e-mails that have been mentioned in both Hasan's case and that of Naser Jason Abdo.

Click image for a larger view

Col. Galligan is a retired judge of the Third Judicial Circuit of the Judge Advocate General Corps who served at Ft. Hood and now practices law in this city, chiefly defending soldiers accused of military crimes at Ft. Hood and elsewhere.

In these e-mails, both men have alleged war crimes by American forces as excuses for their offenses. Mr. Abdo was sentenced to two consecutive life terms and an additional 80 years in the federal penitentiary for his plot to bomb soldiers at Ft. Hood.

Hasan is slated to begin presentation of his defense today, Wednesday, August 21, in a General Court Martial entering its twelfth day after the government rested its capital murder case against him yesterday. He is charged with 13 specifications of premeditated murder and 32 specifications of premeditated attempted murder.

Abdo shouted his objections and his emulation of Maj. Hasan as federal marshals led him away in chains, his face muzzled with protective netting after he had attacked court officers repeatedly by spitting blood in their faces during the various evolutions of his trial.

Click image for a larger image

Hasan made mention of the same allegations when he made an inept attempt to cross examine a former supervisor from Darnall Army Community Hospital, and was called out of order because his questions exceeded the scope of the direct questioning by prosecutors.

Here are direct quotes from the e-mails, which were sent to superior officers at the Army's Medical Command on October 29, 2009 and November 2, just days before his deadly attack on fellow soldiers at Ft. Hood.

During a visit to a legal consultant's office, Hasan wrote, he asked about an incident in which a soldier reported “our troops pouring 50 gallons of fuel in the Iraqi water supply in retaliation for some adverse events that had occurred.”

He reported that his contact told him “that is a war crime,” and gave him numbers to call.

On Nov. 2, he said “I'm still not clear on the exact guidelines,” and went on to report a soldier telling him about a soldier from the lst Air Cavalry calling in an air evacuation for a badly wounded insurgent “where our medics then proceeded to kill the insurgent.”

“I would like to think it was some kind of mercy killing because of the severity of the insurgent's injuries,” Hasan wrote.

In another consultation with a troubled soldier, Hasan reported, “He describes intentionally killing a woman because she was at the wrong place at the wrong time. He reports he was ordered to kill anything that approached the specific site to include dogs, etc.”

Town Hall meeting rouses Hill Country SRO crowd

Obamacare has to go, the consensus

Meridian, Texas – Anybody tries to tell you that freshman term Representative Roger Williams (R-TX Dist. 25) isn't a car dealer is plumb wrong. This guy is always closing.

Roger Williams quizzed by Karina Tergerson, 6 years old

That's a good thing when you've got an interlocutor like Karina Tergerson, 6, asking the questions.

“What have you learned from being on the Budget Committee?” she asked the Weatherford car man, the first representative to be elected to a brand new district created by the Texas Legislature in 2012.

Rep. Williams drew a big breath, smiled, and said as an aside, “We're old buddies, she and I. We met at the Courthouse.”

Then he let it rip.

“I've learned the books are out of balance,” he said with a big west Texas grin.

Laughter - hooting, clapping, knee slapping...horse laughter - lit the inside of the community center like a Christmas tree.

He's not changed his campaign message one iota since the day he first threw his hat in the ring.

It's lower taxes;

Less spending;

Smaller government;

and “Stand by Israel, no matter what.”

DA B.J. Shepherd, County Judge candidate Dewey Ratliff

Extended applause. In a recent interview with Israel's Netanyahu, he recalls he was told, “Let me tell you, Congressman. In this dispute, we are the tiger, not the lamb – so don't scratch the eye of the tiger.”

Then he threw some hard facts out at the unflinching crowd. The rate of annual deficit spending is $17 trillion, he said. But that's not the true deficit.

“The true deficit is in excess of $200 trillion.”

“I've learned that we have to balance the books...If you have $2 trillion in deficit spending, you cut the budget by $2 trillion.” No one objected. If you exceed your budget, you run out of credit and you have no operating capital. It's that simple.

And then an elderly man stood up in the back of the crowd, and the true Town Hall meeting started.

He said, “What I want to know is, how many 20-year-olds are here? How many 30-year-olds? How many 40-year-olds?”

“We are losing a generation, here,” said Mr. Williams.

“We're going to have to find them, or we'll be a socialist country,” the man replied. More applause.

Another man spoke up, angry, and said he's frustrated because none of the laws apply to the politicians. “They pass laws and they pass laws, and they don't have to obey those laws,” he said, his voice filled with anger, rising in pitch.

“I think it's a travesty for people to pass legislation that they don't have to adhere to,” said Rep. Williams.

And then Obamacare became the topic of discussion. It's got to go. The people agreed. Said Rep. Williams, “OK, Mr. President, I'll give you everything you want to run the government. But don't give him what he needs to fund Obamacare.”

But people say there's a 95 percent chance you can't defund Obamacare.

“There's a 5 percent chance you can, and just like us old football boys learned, run for daylight,” said Mr. Williams.

Football. It's the national religion of Texas.

If you can't completely defund the program because of mandatory user fees to be collected as punitive taxes in case of noncompliance, “Peel it back a little, that's all.”

And besides, he pointed out, Jimmy Hoffa is against Obamacare. “How many times has anyone in this room ever sided with Jimmy Hoffa?” More laughter.

“Why worry about 2016 if you don't deliver 2014?...We have to keep the House and gain the Senate.”

Then there are the “Navigators,” paid guides who will walk you through the enrollment process. “I've heard they aren't doing background checks on them,” said one man.

“I've heard that, too,” Mr. Williams said. As an aside, “They come up with these names, don't they?” Then it was explained that a Navigator gets all your personal information, catalogues it in the system, and helps you make your decisions.

That had a chilling effect on the crowd.

Jim Goldsmith, ex-Clifton football coach

Finally, an ex-Clifton football coach named Jim Goldsmith spoke up to say, “Government has gone from being my friend to being my adversary. I've gone from having no guns to having a substantial number of them.”

That's when another man, a true wag, pulled a funny and said, “But no ammo!”

Thunderous laughter ensued. People looked at each other and laughed, chucked each others' shoulders, elbowed each other.

“Okay, so, we manufacture ammunition,” concluded their Congressman.

And that's what a Town Hall meeting sounds like in West Texas, District 25, one of four new districts created from whole cloth following the census of 2010.