FORT HOOD, Texas — Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan faces a pretrial
confinement hearing Saturday at the San Antonio Army post where he lies
paralyzed in a heavily guarded intensive-care unit.
Rep. Michael McCaul, R-Texas, previously told The Dallas
Morning News that Hasan wired money to Pakistan, which is a hub for terrorist
fundraising. McCaul did not link the transfers to the U.S.-born al-Awlaki,
whose terrorist ties have been investigated for at least a decade.
Today’s confinement hearing could speed the psychiatrist’s
transfer to a jail cell to await trial on 13 counts of premeditated murder, his
civilian attorney said Friday.
“I’ll be voicing objections,” said retired Col.
John P. Galligan, a former military judge and Belton lawyer. “I’m
concerned about the apparent rush with which this is being done.”
Galligan said Hasan is paralyzed below the waist and in pain
above, the result of police gunfire that ended the Fort Hood massacre Nov. 5.
“I know he wants some assurances that his medical
treatment is not going to be prematurely curtailed,” the lawyer said.
Fort Hood has no detention facility, so soldiers awaiting
military trial and those sentenced to brief military confinement are commonly
held in jail in Bell County, Texas.
Maj. Robert Patterson, the jail’s supervisor, said he was
asked the day after the massacre whether the lockup could house Hasan. He said
it can, as it offers around-the-clock nursing care and a physician visiting
three days a week.
Army prisoners awaiting military trials are separated from
civilian prisoners. An officer, such as Hasan, would be separated from enlisted
men.
Today’s hearing at Fort Sam Houston will be closed to the
public. At such hearings, authorities typically present evidence that the accused
is a flight risk, a danger or both.
If the hearing confirms Hasan’s confinement, he could be
jailed as soon as doctors say he no longer needs hospital care.
Via McClatchy-Tribune News Service.
