Judge is removed from Fort Hood shooting trial

The US Court of Appeals for the Armed Forces has removed Colonel Gregory Gross as a judicator in the trial of Major Maj Nidal Hasan, accused of a shooting spree in Fort Hood that killed 13 people, citing that Gross had demonstrated a lack of impartiality in the case.

The court stated that Colonel Gross had “allowed the proceedings to become a duel of wills between himself and Major Nidal Hasan, rather than an adjudication of the serious offenses with which Hasan is charged”.

Hasan is facing 13 counts of pre-meditated murder and 32 counts of attempted pre-meditated murder. However, the trial of the actual murders has been delayed for three months because of Hasan’s refusal to shave his beard, which he claims he grew because of his religion. Gross had found Hasan in contempt of court on six pre-trial hearings because he was not clean-shaven. He asserted that Hasan had failed to prove sincere religious reasons for wearing the beard and stated that the accused must be clean-shaven or forcibly shaved before his military trial. Each of these rulings regarding Hasan’s beard was subsequently appealed.

“Should the next military judge find it necessary to address (Hasan’s) beard,” said the Appeals court, “such issues should be addressed and litigated anew.”