After spending a day in recess a military judge has ordered that the accused Fort Hood shooter Maj. Nidal Hasan may continue to defend himself and denied a request to change the status of Hasan's "stand by" counsel, according to the Los Angeles Times.
Lt. Col. Kris Poppe, the lead attorney assigned to Hasan's case, had stated in a hearing on Wednesday that he believed that Hasan was attempting to lose the case on purpose.
"Assisting him in achieving the goal of moving closer to the death penalty is something a defense trial attorney should not be forced to do," Poppe argued.
The presiding judge, Col. Tara Osborn, dismissed Poppe's request citing that the lawyer simply disagreed with the strategy Hasan was using, according to CBS News.
"Standby counsel may not agree with the way the case is proceeding, but Major Hasan determines his trial strategy," Osborn said. "This is nothing more than their disagreement with Major Hasan's trial strategy."
Poppe and his team did not agree with Osborn and stated that they intended to appeal her decision. Poppe told Osborn that he did not want to be obligated to assist Hasan as he continues with a strategy that Poppe believes is aimed toward defeat, according to CBS News.
"We believe your order is causing us to violate our rules of professional conduct," Poppe said.
Hasan has made some bizarre choices in the early going of the trial including announcing to the court that he was the shooter during his opening statement. During the first day of the trial Hasan chose not to cross-examine many of the witnesses brought by the prosecution, which may have raised suspicions that he wasn't trying to defend himself, according to Fox News.
Col. Michael Mulligan, felt that Hasan was using a fairly common defense strategy where he won't dispute the facts of what happened but try to explain a reason as to why they happened, according to CBS News.
