Alleged Ft. Hood attacker to face survivors at hearing

FORT HOOD, Texas — Witnesses to a gunman's rampage at Fort Hood will begin describing the attack for a military officer Tuesday, providing new details about the scene that unfolded nearly a year ago in a processing center where soldiers were making final preparations to deploy.

The Article 32 hearing involving Maj. Nidal Hasan is expected to last at least three weeks and will determine whether there is enough evidence to put the Army psychiatrist on trial. Such hearings are unique to military court, where prosecutors and the defense can call witnesses, and both sides are able to question them and present other evidence.

Hasan, 40, is charged with premeditated murder and attempted premeditated murder in the Nov. 5 attack, which killed 13 people and wounded 32 others. It was the worst mass shooting at an American military base.

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When the proceeding begins, Hasan will be sitting just a few feet from the witnesses.

Col. James L. Pohl, a military judge acting as the investigating officer in the case, has said he wants to hear from all 32 injured victims but did not say why. Prosecutors usually ask only a few key witnesses to testify at such hearings. Authorities have not said whether they will seek the death penalty if the case goes to trial.

About 300 people were in the Soldier Readiness Processing Center when a gunman jumped up on a desk, shouted "Allahu Akbar!" — Arabic for "God is great!" — and opened fire. Some described hiding under desks or pulling wounded soldiers out the door as the gunman fired two pistols, one a semiautomatic.

Because of the complexity of any case that qualifies for the death penalty, prosecutors quickly stopped witnesses from publicly discussing what they had seen.

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Among those expected to testify was Sgt. Kimberly Munley, who was shot in the hand and leg as she and another Fort Hood police officer engaged in a firefight with Hasan, wounding him.

'I need to know what happened'
While in custody, Hasan was treated for five months at a San Antonio hospital. He is now paralyzed from the chest down. He has been jailed since April in Bell County, which houses military suspects for nearby Fort Hood. The military justice system does not offer bail.

Hasan has been in a Fort Hood courtroom for two previous hearings, both times sitting quietly in his wheelchair wearing his Army combat uniform.

Several relatives of the victims plan to attend some of the Article 32 hearing, including Leila Hunt Willingham, whose brother died in the shootings.

"I understand why people who were there haven't been able to talk about it, but I need to know what happened," Hunt Willingham said.

The dead ranged in age from 19 to 62 and came from all walks of life: a pregnant soldier who had just returned from Iraq and wanted a lifelong Army career; a woman who had joined the military after the 2001 terrorist attacks and had vowed to take on Osama bin Laden; and a young father excited about his first deployment.

To grief-stricken families who had feared losing their loved ones on a foreign battlefield, this was unimaginable.

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"He was on a base," Marikay DeCrow, the widow of Staff Sgt. Justin M. DeCrow, said last year after the attack. "They should be safe there."

Three who died and six who were seriously injured were in the same Army Reserve unit that Hasan was supposed to deploy with the following month.

The Fort Hood attack spurred the military to make many changes, including a comprehensive weapons policy for military bases. The Defense Department's final report on the shootings said military supervisors must have access to soldiers' personnel records and be aware of signs of potential workplace violence.

The Pentagon recently said it is taking new steps to beef up security and surveillance programs at its bases, and will join an FBI intelligence-sharing program aimed at identifying future terror threats.

It's unclear if Hasan's military record or mental health issues will be addressed at the Article 32 hearing.

Lead defense attorney John Galligan said a defense psychiatrist plans to review Hasan's military files, as well as government reports about Hasan's alleged e-mails with Anwar al-Awlaki, a radical Muslim cleric in Yemen who encouraged Muslims to kill U.S. troops, and the Pentagon review of Hasan's time at Walter Reed. Galligan said he has not decided what evidence to present, "if anything at all."

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