Death penalty remains in Hasan case

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FORT HOOD, Texas, Jan. 30 (UPI) -- The death penalty will stay a possibility in the outcome of the trial of accused Fort Hood, Texas, shooter Maj. Nidal Hasan, a judge ruled Wednesday.

Hasan, an Army psychiatrist accused of killing 13 people and injuring 32 in a massacre at the military base in 2009, had hoped to persuade Judge Col. Tara Osborn to spare him the death penalty, the San Antonio Express-News reported.

In the first day of hearings, Osborn ruled a previous Supreme Court decision involving a capital murder trial at Fort Hood applied to Hasan's upcoming trial and consequently the death penalty would remain on the table, the Killeen Daily Herald said.

Lawyers familiar with the case and military law called the bid by Hasan's legal team to remove the death penalty from consideration a desperate attempt with little possibility of success, the Express-News said.