FORT HOOD, Texas, June 18 (UPI) -- Jury selection for the trial of U.S. Army Maj. Nadal Hasan, the accused shooter in the Fort Hood, Texas, massacre, will start July 9, a judge decided Tuesday.
Col. Tara Osborn, the presiding military judge, set the date for jury selection after denying Hasan's request that his trial be delayed, the Killeen Daily Herald reported. Osborn also said testimony in the case will start Aug. 6.
Hasan, who had sought a three-month delay to prepare his defense, is charged with 13 counts of premeditated murder and 32 counts of attempted premeditated murder. The 42-year-old military psychiatrist was paralyzed from the waist down when he was wounded during the Nov. 5, 2009, attack at the Army base in Texas.
The newspaper said the judge denied Hasan's request for a delay based on a Friday ruling that his proposed "defense of others" trial strategy would not be admissible in court. Hasan wanted to argue the shooting spree was justified because he was defending the Taliban.
Osborn set the start date while stating "the court's paramount concern is that he receives a fair trial."
