June 14
OKLAHOMA----impending executions
Killer set to die Tuesday
A convicted killer, and death row inmate at the Oklahoma State Penitentiary, is
set to be executed via lethal injection Tuesday at 6 p.m. in the prison's death
chamber. James Lewis DeRosa, 36, was convicted Oct. 19, 2001, of 2 counts of
1st-degree murder and was subsequently sentenced to death.
The Oklahoma Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty plans to host a silent
vigil at 5:15 p.m. on Tuesday in front of the Governor's Mansion in Oklahoma
City.
"The public is invited to join the members of OK-CADP as they stand in front of
the Governor's mansion, 820 NE 23 St., on Tuesday, June 18, at 5:15 p.m. during
the 'Don't Kill for Me' protest demonstration, which will transition into a
silent vigil at the appointed hour of 6 p.m. until death is pronounced,"
organizers of the vigil said.
Earlier this month, the Oklahoma Pardon and Parole Board voted 3-2 against
granting DeRosa clemency earlier this month.
Oklahoma Attorney General Scott Pruitt filed a request March 25 with the
Oklahoma Court of Criminal Appeals to set DeRosa's execution date after the
U.S. Supreme Court denied the inmate's final appeal.
In October 2000, Curtis Plummer, 73, and Gloria Plummer, 70, both of Poteau,
were found dead in their home with multiple stab wounds and with their throats
cut. About one year later, in October 2001, DeRosa was found guilty by a jury
of his peers for the LeFlore County 1st-degree murders of the Plummers. He was
subsequently sentenced to death.
According to Pruitt, DeRosa was briefly employed by the Plummers and told
several friends on multiple occasions he thought the elderly couple would be an
easy target to rob. DeRosa's 21-year-old friend, Eric Castleberry, now 33
4/24/13 (12/4/79), and also known as John E. Castleberry, agreed to help with
the robbery. Castleberry's 18-year-old friend, Scotty White, now 30 4/24/13
(8/1/82), agreed to drive.
Pruitt said DeRosa and Castleberry were welcomed into the Plummer's home, which
at the time was equipped with a security system. Once in the home, Pruitt said,
DeRosa and Castleberry brandished knives and, while the couple begged and
struggled for their lives, DeRosa stabbed the Plummers multiple times and slit
their throats, the AG's office reported.
"DeRosa and Castleberry left the scene with $73 and the couple's pickup truck,"
Pruitt said. "The truck was ditched in a nearby lake."
In exchange for a life sentence without the possibility of parole, Castleberry
testified at DeRosa's trial. Castleberry is serving his 2 life sentences at OSP
in McAlester.
White was charged with accessory to 1st-degree murder after the fact and
received 2 25-year sentences, to be served concurrently, and the last 7 years
to be served as probation. He is serving time at the Lawton Correctional
Facility and has since been convicted of escaping from the Department of
Corrections. He is scheduled to be released on Nov. 10, 2026, and has a parole
hearing set in August of 2015.
DeRosa was received into the Oklahoma Department of Corrections on Dec. 10,
2001. He has been housed in Oklahoma's death row at OSP in McAlester.
(source: McAlester News)
***************************
Governor denies clemency for Oklahoma death-row inmate
Gov. Mary Fallin did not issue a stay of execution for convicted murderer Brian
D. Davis on Thursday despite the Pardon and Parole Board's recommendation for
clemency.
Davis is scheduled to be executed June 25 at the Oklahoma State Penitentiary in
McAlester.
The board voted 4-1 last week to recommend clemency for Davis, who was
convicted in Kay County of raping and stabbing to death his girlfriend's mother
in 2001. Board members recommended that the death sentence be commuted to life
without parole.
Fallin's office issued a statement Thursday evening, saying the governor had
denied clemency to the killer.
Alex Weintz, spokesman for the Governor's office, did not elaborate on Fallin's
reasoning for going against the recommendation for clemency.
"The governor reviewed the case carefully and takes this responsibility very
seriously," he said.
Stacey Sanford discovered her mother, Josephine Sanford, dead Nov. 4, 2001, in
the Ponca City apartment the daughter shared with Davis.
Josephine Sanford had 6 stab wounds, a broken jaw and marks around her neck.
Davis had 2 previous felony convictions in Kay County for 2nd-degree rape and
possession of cocaine, records show.
Attorney General Scott Pruitt denounced the board's clemency recommendation,
calling the decision "incomprehensible" based on the violence of Davis's
crimes.
Davis did not deny killing Sanford, but he told the board at his clemency
hearing that there were facts and circumstances jurors may not have been aware
of when convicting him.
He indicated he and his girlfriend's mother had a consensual sexual
relationship and that he stabbed her after they got into a heated argument.
Clemency is rare in Oklahoma death-penalty cases: Only 4 death-row inmates have
been granted clemency in Oklahoma since 1976, according to the Death Penalty
Information Center. It has executed 103 people during that time, according to
the Death Penalty Information Center.
Gov. Lee Cruce was one of the only Oklahoma governors to grant clemency broadly
- he commuted every death sentence imposed during his administration from
1911-1915.
Gov. Brad Henry commuted the sentences of 3 death-row inmates - Osbaldo Torres,
Kevin Young and Richard Tandy Smith - during his 8 years in office.
Henry was concerned about disparate sentencing and said that after reviewing
the facts of the 3 cases, he determined that life without parole was a more
appropriate sentence for each inmate.
In 2001, Gov. Frank Keating granted clemency to death-row inmate Phillip Dewitt
Smith, saying he had doubts about Smith's guilt.
(source: Tulsa World)
*****************
Gov. rejects clemency for murderer
Gov. Mary Fallin rejected Thursday the Oklahoma Pardon and Parole Board's
recommendation that she commute the death sentence of Brian Darrell Davis, who
is scheduled to be executed this month for the rape and murder of his
girlfriend's mother almost 12 years ago.
Fallin's executive order comes just 1 week after the board voted 4-1 to
recommend that Davis' death sentence be commuted to life in prison without the
possibility of parole. The order states that Davis is to be executed as
scheduled June 25 by lethal injection at the Oklahoma State Penitentiary in
McAlester.
Davis, 39, was convicted by a Kay County jury of 1st-degree murder and
1st-degree rape in the November 2001 death of his girlfriend's mother,
52-year-old Josephine Sanford. Davis was sentenced to death on the murder
conviction and 100 years in prison for rape.
Davis' defense attorney, Jack Fisher, of Edmond, said he was not surprised by
the governor's decision.
"It was expected," Fisher said. Fallin has now reviewed 2 clemency
recommendations for death row inmates since she took office in January 2011 and
has rejected both. The 1st recommendation was for Garry Thomas Allen, 56, who
was executed in November for the 1986 killing of his fiancee outside an
Oklahoma City day care.
Fisher said members of Davis' family expressed disappointment when they learned
about the governor's decision. Davis' mother, father and sister spoke on his
behalf at his clemency hearing and urged the board to give him a 2nd chance.
The board recommended clemency after Davis took responsibility for the victim's
death and apologized.
Fisher said he is reviewing the case for possible new legal challenges, but he
declined to elaborate.
Attorney General Scott Pruitt, whose office urged the board to deny clemency,
said in a statement he appreciated Fallin's action.
"Given the brutality of this crime, he does not deserve clemency and now must
face the punishment determined by judge and jury," Pruitt said.
The victim's daughter, Stacey Sanford, discovered her mother dead in the Ponca
City apartment she shared with Davis. Prosecutors said Josephine Sanford had 6
stab wounds, a broken jaw and marks around her neck. DNA evidence showed he had
also had sex with the victim.
Prosecutors alleged the victim was raped, but Davis maintained at his clemency
hearing that the sex was consensual.
A fellow death row inmate, James Lewis DeRosa, 36, is scheduled to be executed
Tuesday for the slayings of an elderly Le Flore County couple almost 13 years
ago. The board rejected DeRosa's plea for clemency May 17.
(source: Associated Press)
********************
Okla. Attorney General denounces clemency vote
Oklahoma Attorney General Scott Pruitt released a statement on June 7 in which
he denounces the Oklahoma Pardon and Parole Board Clemency vote for a death row
inmate set to be executed at the end of the month.
The board voted 4-1 to recommend granting clemency to Brian Darrell Davis, 38,
who is set to be executed by lethal injection at the Oklahoma State
Penitentiary on June 25 at 6 p.m.
"This convicted murderer lured his estranged girlfriend's mother to his
apartment and then brutally raped her, broke her jaw, stabbed her 6 times,
puncturing her abdomen, and left her for dead while he drove around in her
van," Pruitt said. "He does not deserve our pity or clemency, and it is
incomprehensible that 4 members of the pardon and parole board would usurp the
judgment of a jury and deny this family justice."
The board's recommendation now goes to Oklahoma Gov. Mary Fallin for approval
or rejection.
Of the last 11 death row inmates set for execution in Oklahoma, the board voted
to recommend clemency only once, for Garry Thomas Allen. However, in that case,
Fallin did not approve the board's recommendation and Allen was executed Nov.
6, 2012.
Davis is 1 of 2 death row inmates set to be executed this month. James Lewis
DeRosa, 36, is scheduled to be put to death via lethal injection on Tuesday at
6 p.m. (June 18). The board did not recommend clemency for DeRosa.
Both DeRosa and Davis opted to make no last meal requests.
In fact, both offenders have made no requests at all, said OSP Warden's
Assistant Terry Crenshaw. This includes last meal requests as well as requests
for visitors on execution day. Crenshaw said the fact that the 2 inmates have
chosen to make no last meal requests is quite out of the ordinary.
On April 15, the U.S. Supreme Court denied Davis's final appeal and Pruitt
requested an execution date be set.
Davis was convicted of the Nov. 4, 2001, rape and murder of 52-year-old
Josephine "Jody" Sanford.
"In January 2003, Davis was found guilty by a jury for the November 2001
1st-degree murder and rape of his girlfriend's mother, Jody Sanford, 52, of
Ponca City," Pruitt said in a press release. "He was sentenced to death for the
murder and 100 years for rape."
According to court records, Davis returned home in the early morning hours of
Nov. 4, 2001, after socializing with friends at a local club. When he arrived
home, he found that his girlfriend, Stacey Sanford, and their 3-year-old
daughter were missing.
Davis called Jody Sanford, Stacey Sanford's mother, to ask if she knew were his
girlfriend and daughter were, court records state. "When Jody could not locate
her daughter and granddaughter, she went to Stacey's and Davis's apartment."
Davis made several conflicting statements regarding what happened while Jody
Sanford was in his home. According to court records, he changed his story
multiple times and told different stories to his girlfriend, to police and to
the jury at his trial. Court records indicate that Davis did admit to having
sex with and stabbing Jody Sanford.
When Stacey Sanford arrived home shortly after 9 a.m., she found her mother's
body. "Stacey (Sanford) immediately called 911 and local police arrived to
investigate," court records state. "Meanwhile, Davis had been involved in a
single-car accident while driving Jody's van near the Salt Fork River Bridge.
Davis was seriously injured after he was ejected from the van through the front
windshield. Davis was transported to a local hospital for treatment."
Because Davis had a blood alcohol level of .09 percent, he was placed under
arrest for driving under the influence and was later transferred to a regional
hospital in Wichita, Kan., for treatment for injuries he sustained in the car
accident.
According to Pruitt, Jody Sanford had been beaten and stabbed 6 times and DNA
evidence showed Davis had raped her.
Davis has been in custody with the Oklahoma Department of Corrections since
March 17, 2003.
(source: McAlester News)
******************
Martinez guilty of murdering Cache couple
It took a jury 82 minutes longer to find Mica Martinez guilty of 2 counts of
murder and 1 count of assault with a deadly weapon Thursday than it took for
Martinez to take the lives of Carl and Martha Faye Miller early Oct. 12, 2009.
Just 2 hours of deliberation was enough for all 12 jurors to decide the
32-year-old defendant intended to kill the Millers and assaulted their son,
Shawn Monk, creating one of the most heinous crime scenes investigators at the
Comanche County Sheriff's Office have seen in many years.
Interestingly enough, both the prosecutor, Comanche County Assistant District
Attorney Eddie Valdez, and the defense attorneys, Craig Corgan and Perry
Hudson, encouraged the jury to find Martinez guilty, but they argued over 1
issue that could literally mean life or death for the defendant did he intend
to kill the Millers and was he of a depraved mind at the time?
"He deserves the maximum punishment for his behavior with Shawn Monk," Hudson
said during his closing. However, the defense argued that Martinez was severely
intoxicated at the time of the attack and did not premeditate the murders, so
he should only be sentenced to second-degree murder. "Add a notation in the
margin of your verdict form that you want both life sentences to run
back-to-back. ... Send a message and tell Martinez he should spend the rest of
his life in prison."
But a dozen people disagreed. Mica Martinez intended to kill the Millers. And
now, he might be sentenced to die for the crime. The death penalty phase of the
trial is scheduled to begin this morning.
After the reading of the verdict, there were lots of hugs, hand-holding, tears
and sobs among the family and friends of the homicide victims. Members of
Martinez's family stayed quiet and attentive. Both families respectfully
declined to make any comments to the media.
Investigators say Carl Miller likely sat in his garage drinking coffee and
smoking a cigarette the morning of Oct. 12, 2009, just as he usually did. He
was in his pajamas. Sometimes he had trouble sleeping so he watched television.
Dispatchers first received a call from Martha Miller that someone was outside
shooting a gun at 4:59 a.m.; Shortly afterward, a passerby called to report a
suspicious vehicle out front of the Miller's home. At 5:37 a.m. Monk called to
report an intruder in the home was there at gunpoint.
But exactly what happened in the 38 minutes of that particular morning that
left Miller and his wife dead may never be known.
During closing arguments Valdez spliced bits of evidence with speculation to
create a version of events that most likely happened the morning the Miller
family was attacked. In his version, Carl Miller was in the garage having
coffee and a cigarette like usual when he heard Martinez outside firing a gun.
His wife called police to report the shooting, and the couple tried to see what
was going on outside.
The last words ever recorded by Martha Faye Miller were that they had just
opened the garage door and "I think he sees us."
Valdez believes Carl Miller walked out onto the gravel driveway to get a better
look at the vehicle parked across the intersection when Martinez came after him
for calling the police. At one point during a previous interview, Martinez had
said nobody "threatens me and gets away with it."
That's when the house slipper was dropped on the ground and the Millers went
back inside the house to close the garage door. Martinez, Valdez said, knocked
Carl Miller, a frail 64-year-old man, to the ground and bludgeoned him with his
rifle.
After he took Carl's wallet, he led Martha to the bedroom, where he raped her
and beat her until she was disfigured. Pictures of Martinez's hands taken the
following morning showed they were scratched and swollen like an orange. When
Shawn Monk came from a back bedroom and asked what's going on, Martinez went
back to the garage to make sure he had finished off Carl, Valdez asserted.
(source: The Lawton Constitution)
COLORADO:
Lawyers: Holmes could withdraw insanity plea
Lawyers for Colorado theater shooting suspect James Holmes say they might
withdraw his plea of not guilty by reason of insanity after they see the
results of his mental evaluation.
The defense made the statement in a motion filed Tuesday. The motion did not
say what plea Holmes would enter if he decides to change.
Nor did the motion indicate what kind of a result would cause the defense to
drop the insanity plea, but presumably it would be a finding that he was sane.
Holmes is accused of opening fire in a crowded Denver-area movie theater in
July, killing 12 and injuring 70. He is charged with multiple counts of murder
and attempted murder. Prosecutors are seeking the death penalty.
Colorado's law on the insanity plea requires Holmes to undergo the evaluation
before his trial, which is scheduled to start Feb. 3.
The possible change of plea was disclosed in a motion by defense lawyers saying
they should get to see the report on Holmes' evaluation before prosecutors do.
They said if Holmes decided to change his plea, prosecutors should not get the
report because they had no need of it.
Judge Carlos A. Samour Jr. denied the request Thursday.
Samour said if Holmes does change his plea, the defense could submit new
motions about the use of the evaluation report.
(source: Associated Press)
***********************
What poll means for death penalty; As Gov. Hickenlooper leads a state
conversation on the issue, he'll hear many voices opposing his stance.
A Quinnipiac University poll released Thursday showed that if Gov. John
Hickenlooper wants to have a "serious conversation" about the death penalty
with Coloradans, it will be a long one.
The poll showed that 69 % of Coloradans support the death penalty and 67 %
disapproved of Hickenlooper's decision to grant a reprieve to convicted killer
Nathan Dunlap last month. 63% said they preferred the death penalty for Dunlap.
We oppose the death penalty on many grounds and commended the governor for his
decision to issue an executive order sparing Dunlap's life, even if it wasn't
permanent. Hickenlooper's decision is only in force so long as he is in office
and can be undone by a future governor.
At the time he made his decision on Dunlap, Hickenlooper said he'd arrived at
his decision after a great deal of research and thought about the death
penalty, finally concluding it was flawed on many levels. It was in this
context the governor said he wanted to "have some serious conversation" on the
issue with the public.
What the Quinnipiac poll shows, though, is that Hickenlooper may be vulnerable
in his bid for re-election and that the death penalty is an important issue for
many Colorado voters. 74 % of voters said the issue of the death penalty would
be "somewhat important" to "very important" in casting their vote for governor
next year.
Interestingly, 57 % of Coloradans said they did not think the death penalty
deters murders.
Another revealing statistic: 53 % said they thought the death penalty was
applied fairly in Colorado, despite a mountain of evidence that its use in
death-penalty eligible cases is quite arbitrary.
How informed are Coloradans about the death penalty debate? 44 % said they had
heard or read "a little" about the debate while 26 % said they had heard or
read "nothing at all."
Only 30 % said they had heard or read "a lot" on the subject.
Of those Coloradans who did support abolishing the death penalty, the top
reason was listed as, "No one has the right to take a life/It's murder." The
2nd most-cited reason was, "Fear of executing an innocent person/Irreversible."
Those seem like pretty good reasons for opposing the death penalty - and there
are many more - although apparently they don't resonate with most Coloradans.
We hope the conversation continues and that the governor leads it, polling
aside.
(source: Editorial, Denver Post)
ARIZONA:
Arias' attorneys file motion to move penalty phase to January
The attorneys for Jodi Arias are requesting the penalty phase of her murder
trial be postponed from July 18 to January to allow for witnesses to be called
and because of the travel schedules of her attorneys.
Attorneys Kirk Nurmi and Jennifer Wilmott in a motion filed Wednesday said
Arias could not present a full mitigation case. They contend a witness,
Patricia Womack, was afraid to return to Arizona to testify during the penalty
phase because she received death threats.
Alice LaViolette, a domestic violence expert and key defense witness during the
trial, also received threats, so the defense decided not to present any
witnesses during the penalty phase, the motion stated.
The Arias camp now wants to try again to call witnesses and needs time to
prepare, the motion stated.
Arias was convicted May 8 of 1st-degree murder in the death of her former
boyfriend, Travis Alexander. She initially denied killer her ex-lover, but
later confessed to killing him in self-defense.
The jury could not reach a unanimous verdict in the penalty phase and Judge
Sherry Stephens declared a mistrial May 23 and scheduled a new trial in the
penalty phase for July 18.
The motion also mentions Nurmi's and Wilmott's travel schedules and upcoming
cases.
(source: CBS News)
CALIFORNIA:
Jury seated in death penalty case against Naso
A jury has been selected in the death penalty case against Joseph Naso, who is
charged with the decades-old murders of 4 Northern California women.
The Marin Independent Journal reports (http://bit.ly/12J97K7 ) that the
12-person panel was finalized Wednesday after weeks of jury selection.
The 79-year-old Naso is serving as his own attorney. He has pleaded not guilty
to the charges and questioned many of the prospective jurors himself.
Naso is charged with murdering 18-year-old Roxene Roggasch in 1977; 22-year-old
Carmen Colon in 1978; 38-year-old Pamela Parsons in 1993; and 31-year-old Tracy
Tafoya in 1994.
Investigators say Naso's DNA was found on one victim, and a trove of
photographs of dead or unconscious women was found in his Reno, Nev., home.
Opening statements are scheduled for Monday.
(source: Associated Press)
USA:
The Death Penalty Is Premeditated, Unconstitutional Murder
Murder is wrong -- period.
It doesn't matter if the murder in question -- the death penalty -- is legal.
It is still wrong. More importantly, it is unconstitutional. The Supreme Court
itself said so back in 1972.
That's right, writing in 1972 the Court argued that "the imposition and
carrying out of the death penalty... constitutes cruel and unusual punishment
in violation of the Eighth and Fourteenth Amendments." Unfortunately, execution
resumed in 1976 -- partly under pressure from state governments -- and since
then dozens of citizens have been murdered by the state.
But I believe that the 1976 decision was wrong, that the court got it right in
1972. The death penalty does violate the Constitution, because it is cruel and
unusual punishment. And here's why:
Imagine for a moment that you are locked in a small cell for 23 out of the 24
hours in a day. You are held in this room alone for years on end. Human contact
is rare, and you have little more to do than twiddle your thumbs and sleep. Now
combine this with the fact that you know the exact date and time of your death.
Hope and dismay tear at you as you talk to your lawyers, often days before your
death, desperately hoping for a court to review your case before you are
legally murdered. Often, people who are executed are uncertain until the very
hours before their death about whether or not they will really die. Their
defense lawyers exhaust numerous avenues -- review by state appellate courts,
review by the Supreme Court, last-minute appeals to the governor -- in the slim
chance of receiving a stay of execution or exoneration, and each one of these
avenues, though almost certain to fail, inspire hope in the prisoner.
Virtually every death row inmate questioned about the above process agrees: it
is pure torture. Many of them develop severe mental problems before meeting
their end. They can't take the endless loneliness, the empty time, the inner
battles of hope and dismay that rage on in their minds during all this spare
time in a small cell -- the hope that they might against all odds reclaim life,
and the dismay when time and time again this hope is shattered after judges
deny them the right to live.
I can't blame them for going crazy. Under the circumstances, I'm absolutely
certain that I wouldn't be able to maintain my sanity either.
While subjecting a guilty person to the sort of torture described above is
wrong, could you imagine subjecting an innocent person to such treatment?
Unfortunately, this has already happened. As the ACLU writes, "Innocent people
are too often sentenced to death. Since 1973, over 140 people have been
released from death rows in 26 states because of innocence. Nationally, at
least one person is exonerated for every 10 that are executed." I have no doubt
that there are innocent people in prison today; to think that even one of them
may be on death row is frightening.
Even if you can't find it in your heart to sympathize with death row inmates,
think of what the families of these people have to go through. They are
deprived of substantive contact with their kin for years -- often until the
very moments preceding death. And even before their son or daughter or brother
or sister is dead, they, too, become victims. As parents, or brothers, or
sisters, they must live with knowing that their loved one will die on a set
date. Many of them break under the stress. Is this -- living for years under
the knowledge that your child or sibling faces death -- not "cruel and unusual
punishment?"
Most people on death row have done horrible things, unimaginable things, and
they pay for doing those things by going to prison for the rest of their lives.
But killing more people to prove that killing is wrong makes no sense. It does
not bring the victim back. And studies show that it does not deter crime,
either.
At best, the death penalty is legalized murder. At worst, it is murder preceded
by the sort of torture most of us wouldn't even subject animals to.
It is time to put the death penalty to death.
(source: Michael Shammas, Blogger, Student at Harvard Law School, Huffington
Post)
US MILITARY:
Judge expected to rule on accused Fort Hood gunman's request to delay trial
A military judge is expected to rule on Friday on whether to grant accused Fort
Hood gunman Major Nidal Hasan more time to prepare as he represents himself in
a murder trial for a 2009 Texas shooting rampage that killed 13 people.
The judge, Colonel Tara Osborn, could also decide whether to order Hasan's
legal team to stay in place despite its objections as he leads his own defense
- the latest wrinkle in a case that has seen myriad delays and legal tangles.
The 42-year-old Army psychiatrist is accused of killing 13 people and wounding
32 others in an attack on soldiers at a readiness facility, many of whom were
getting ready to deploy to Iraq.
Fort Hood was a major deployment point for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan at
the time of the shooting, and Hasan had been preparing to leave for Afghanistan
with a unit assigned to help soldiers deal with mental issues.
Hasan, a U.S.-born Muslim, wants to argue that he was defending the Afghan
Taliban when he opened fire, and may get a ruling from Osborn on whether he
will be allowed to pursue that argument at trial.
Hasan is charged with 13 counts of 1st-degree murder and could face the death
penalty if found guilty. He was shot by civilian base police during the attack
and left paralyzed from the chest down.
Earlier in June, Osborn allowed Hasan to take up his own representation. He has
asked Osborn to delay the trial by three months to change his defense strategy
and witness list. Opening statements in the trial are scheduled for July 1.
Osborn appointed 3 military lawyers to serve as standby counsel. They have said
it would be unethical to advise Hasan on his proposed argument that he was
protecting the Taliban and have asked Osborn not to require them to participate
in that defense.
Osborn has set a goal of getting the trial schedule back on track after lengthy
delays, some due to a dispute over whether Hasan should be allowed to wear a
beard in the courtroom in violation of U.S. Army grooming regulations. She set
that issue aside.
Jury selection for the court-martial had been set initially to begin 2 weeks
ago, but has been delayed by the pre-trial issues. The jury will be comprised
of Army officers.
(source: Reuters)
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