RUTHFULLY YOURS

“Breaking news: Judge removed in Fort Hood shooting rampage case” Dallas News (thanks to Van)

FORT HOOD — A military appeals court has thrown out a judge’s order to forcibly shave the Fort Hood shooting suspect and removed the judge from the case.

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Armed Forces ruled Monday that Col. Gregory Gross didn’t appear impartial while presiding over the case of Maj. Nidal Hasan.

Hasan faces the death penalty if convicted in the 2009 shootings on the Texas Army post that killed 13 people and wounded more than two dozen.

Hasan appealed after Gross ordered that he must be clean-shaven or be forcibly shaved before the court-martial. Hasan says his beard is a requirement of his Muslim faith, but facial hair violates Army rules.

The appeals court says the command, not the judge, is responsible for enforcing grooming standards.

More details to come.

UPDATE: Munley blasts Appeals Court rulings in Hasan case (thanks to Mike)

CAROLINA BEACH, NC (WECT/AP) – One victim of the Fort Hood shooting spree is upset over Monday’s court decisions in the case of Major Nidal Hasan, the suspect in the massacre.

Kimberly Munley, the former civilian officer who was shot several times trying to stop the shooting, released a statement responding to rulings of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Armed Forces. The court on Monday ousted the judge from the case, ruling Col. Gregory Gross didn’t appear impartial while presiding over Maj. Hasan’s case. The court also threw out Col. Gross’ order that Hasan be forcibly shaved. Hasan says his beard is a requirement of his Muslim faith, but facial hair violates Army rules.

The appeals court says the command, not the judge, is responsible for enforcing grooming standards.

“In response to the most recent decision of the US Court of Appeals in reference to the Hasan trial, I am utterly appalled!” was Munley’s response in an email to WECT. “On Oct 18, 2012, the next lower Appellate Court (The US Army Court of Criminal Appeals) ruled in favor of Judge Gross to have the suspect forcibly shaved and to allow the Judge to continue overseeing the case. Today’s decision by the USCA, in my opinion, is a further ploy to delay this trial to avoid the truth from being revealed that Major Hasan’s bloody massacre could have been prevented if the Government would have done their job.”

Hasan faces the death penalty if convicted in the Nov. 2009 shooting spree on the Army post in Texas. The shooting killed 13 people and wounded more than two dozen others. Munley was shot four times in the exchange of gunfire with the suspect. Munley has become a spokesperson for a group petitioning for the Department of Defense to consider the incident as “a terrorist attack” instead of “a workplace shooting”, so victims and their families can receive proper benefits.

“It further supports the fact that there is an extensive effort to cover up “Political Correctness” that occurred in the facts leading up to this incident and that continues to occur to this day,” Munley continued in her statement. “Unfortunately, the accused will continue to receive pay and benefits until he is convicted and I do not believe this conviction will happen within the next year due to this circumstance. It’s already been over three years and the victims deserve justice! No other military trial in history has taken this long. Please visit WWW.TRUTHABOUTFORTHOOD.COM to see what you can do to help remedy this issue and to help get the victims the benefits they deserve.”

Major Hasan should have faced a firing squad in 2009. Instead, he still receives government checks (while the two cops that took him down have been fired).

Major Nidal Hassan came out as a jihadi on grand rounds. The other doctors who worked with him would whisper among themselves that he was a ticking time bomb, but were reluctant to report him lest they be labeled racistislamophobicantimuslimbigots.