The court-martial of alleged Fort Hood shooter Maj. Nidal Hasan continued at a quick pace on Friday, in part because Hasan has neglected to cross-examine most of the witnesses, with victims and witnesses of the shooting spree telling their versions of what happened in the incident that killed 13 people and wounded 32 others, according to CNN.
The team of military lawyers led by Lt. Col. Kris Poppe that were assigned to assist Hasan as he attempts to conduct his own defense were absent from the courtroom on Friday as they appeal Judge Col. Tara Osborn's refusal to relieve them of their duties. Poppe argued that Hasan's defense is aimed at losing the case so that he will receive the death penalty and that having to assist him would be a violation of the rules of professional conduct, according to the Associated Press.
The appeal shouldn't be expected to delay the already much delayed trial any further and will probably be turned down, Jeff Corn, a law professor at South Texas College of Law, told the Associated Press.
"As sympathetic as I am to him (Poppe) and the miserable position he's in, I think he's stuck," Corn said. "The law is clear: If you are a standby attorney for a pro-se defendant and the defendant wants to make decisions tactically disastrous, that's his prerogative."
Sgt. Alan Carroll took the stand and described how confusing the shooting was and how he was wounded, according to CNN.
"We heard the shouts of 'Allahu Ackbar,' and I looked over," Carroll said. "I didn't exactly know what was going on, and then I realized it was a lot louder than a pop gun should be. I then felt a sharp pain in my shoulder."
Carroll was shot a total of five times during the rampage before he was able to escape, CNN reports.
"I had my hand over my left shoulder and I was sitting there trying to figure out what was going on," Carroll said. "I turned around and there was a man behind me and he was laughing...and I figured it was a training exercise...but it got harder and harder to move my shoulder."
Pvt. Lance Avilez told the court about how the friend he was talking to moments before was killed in the shooting, according to CNN.
"I heard a sound," Avilez said. "If you hear it, you'll never forget it, but it's hard to describe. It's like dead weight, a slump. As I get down, I see my battle buddy on the floor. He had an exit wound through the back of his skull."
On Thursday Sgt. 1st Class Maria Guerra, took the stand and told the court about how she took a marker and wrote "D" on the foreheads of the victims who had died so that it would be easier to identify the people who could still be saved, according to the Associated Press.
"I see bodies. I see bodies everywhere and I see blood," Guerra said. "No one is moving. There was no movement. There was no sound. So I yelled out, 'Is everybody OK?...I started hearing, 'Help me. I'm bleeding. I've been shot. Help me.'"
Hasan made the only objection that he would make on Thursday during Guerra's testimony. Guerra stated that she heard Hasan silence a woman who yelled, "My baby! My baby!" Hasan objected and asked the judge to remind Guerra that she was under oath, Guerra did not change her testimony.
If convicted Hasan could receive the death penalty and become the first American soldier to be executed since 1961.
