The criminal investigation was conducted jointly by the
FBI, the
U.S. Army Criminal Investigation Command, and the
Texas Rangers Division. The investigative officer in charge of his
article 32 hearing was Colonel
James L. Pohl, who had previously led the investigation into the
Abu Ghraib abuses, and is the Chief
Presiding Officer of the
Guantanamo military commissions. On November 9, 2009, the FBI said that investigators believed Hasan had acted alone. They disclosed that they had reviewed evidence which included conversations from 2008, with someone that an official identified as
Anwar al-Awlaki, but that they did not find any evidence that Hasan had received orders or help from anyone. Awlaki has since been accused of aiding the 9/11 plot and since 2006–2007 has been identified as radicalized. Investigators were trying to determine if al-Awlaki's teachings influenced Hasan. Hasan attended services at the Muslim Community Center in Silver Spring, Maryland. Army officials operated "on the belief that he acted alone and had no help". No motive for the shootings was offered, but they believed Hasan had written an Internet posting that appeared to support suicide bombings. Later, the court-martial date was pushed back after Hasan switched lawyers, to provide them time to prepare his defense. Having previously instructed Hasan to follow Army regulations and shave a beard he had grown, the judge, Colonel Gregory Gross, found him in contempt in July 2012 and fined him. His court-martial was set to begin on August 20, 2012. He was fined again for retaining his beard, and warned that he could be forcibly shaved prior to his court-martial. On August 14, military judge Col. Gregory Gross declined any further delays to the August 20 court martial date. Hasan objected to being shaved against his will, and his attorney's appealed to the
United States Court of Appeals for the Armed Forces. Hasan said having a beard was part of his religious belief. On August 27, the Court of Appeals for the Armed Forces ruled that the trial could continue but did not rule whether Hasan could be forcibly shaved, having previously rejected previous attempts by Hasan to receive "religious accommodation" from Army Regulation to wear his beard. On September 6, Col. Gross ordered that Hasan be shaved after it was determined that the 1993
Religious Freedom Restoration Act did not apply to this case; however, it will not be enforced until his appeals are exhausted, further delaying the trial. On September 21, defense attorneys of Hasan filed two appeals with the
Army Court of Criminal Appeals regarding his beard, postponing the trial. In mid-October, the Army Court of Criminal Appeals upheld Colonel Gross' decision that Hasan could be forcibly shaved. Hasan's attorneys filed an appeal to the Court of Appeals for the Armed Forces seeking to overturn the lower court, and to have Gross removed. On December 4, 2012, the Court of Appeals for the Armed Forces vacated Major Hasan's six convictions for contempt of court and removed the judge, Colonel Gregory Gross, from the case, stating he had not shown the requisite impartiality. The Court of Appeals overturned an order to have Hasan's beard be forcibly shaven; it did not rule on whether Hasan's religious rights had been violated. The Court of Appeals additionally ruled that it was the military command's responsibility, not the military judge, to ensure Hasan met grooming standards. The
Army's Judge Advocate General appointed a new judge to replace Gross, Colonel Tara A. Osborn. The ruling was called "unusual" by Jeffrey Addicott of the Center for Terrorism Law at
St. Mary's University, and called "rare" by military defense attorney Frank Spinner. On January 31, Osborn ruled that a capital murder trial was constitutional, based on a 1996 Supreme Court case regarding
Dwight J. Loving; Osborn additionally ruled that her court did not have jurisdiction regarding Hasan's beard, and it was a matter to take up with Hasan's chain of command. On February 28 2013, Col. Osborn scheduled the court-martial to start on May 29, 2013, with jury selection starting July 1. On June 3, 2013, a military judge gave approval for Hasan to represent himself at his upcoming murder trial. His attorneys were to remain on the case but only if he asked for their help. Jury selection started on June 5 and opening arguments took place on August 6. Col. Osborn ruled on June 14, 2013, that Hasan could not claim as a part of his defense that he was defending the Taliban. During an exclusive interview with
Fox News, Hasan justified his actions during the Fort Hood shooting by claiming that the US military was at war with Islam. During the first day of the trial on August 6, Hasan—representing himself— admitted that he was the gunman during the Fort Hood shootings in 2009 and stated that the evidence would show that he was the shooter. He also told the panel hearing that he had "switched sides" and regarded himself as a Mujahideen waging "jihad" against the United States. By August 7, disagreements between Hasan and his stand-by defense team led Judge Osborn to suspend the proceedings. Hasan's defense attorneys were concerned that his defense strategy would lead to him receiving the death penalty. Since the prosecution had sought the death penalty, his defense team sought to prevent this. Overall, the trial cost almost $5 million, with the largest expense being transportation, followed by
expert witness fees.
Conviction and sentencing On August 23, 2013, following a seven-hour deliberation, the jury convicted Hasan on all charges. Five days later, a U.S. military court sentenced him to death for the shootings. At the time of his sentencing, he became the sixth person on military death row.
Internal investigations The FBI noted that Hasan had first been brought to their attention in December 2008 by a
Joint Terrorism Task Force (JTTF). Communications between Hasan and al-Awlaki, and other similar communications, were reviewed and considered to be consistent with Hasan's professional research at the Walter Reed Medical Center. "Because the content of the communications was explainable by his research and nothing else derogatory was found, the JTTF concluded that Major Hasan was not involved in terrorist activities or terrorist planning." U.S. Representative
John Carter of Texas criticized the report, saying he felt the government was "afraid to be accused of profiling somebody".
John F. Lehman, a member of the
9/11 Commission and
Secretary of the Navy under
Ronald Reagan, said he felt that the report "shows you how deeply entrenched the values of
political correctness have become."
Debra Saunders of the
San Francisco Chronicle wrote in an opinion piece: "Even ... if the report's purpose was to craft lessons to prevent future attacks, how could they leave out radical Islam?" The leaders of the investigation, former Secretary of the Army
Togo D. West, Jr. and retired Admiral Vernon Clark, responded by saying their "concern is with actions and effects, not necessarily with motivations", and that they did not want to conflict with the criminal investigation on Hasan that was under way. In July 2012, the Webster Commission's final report was submitted. Webster made 18 recommendations to the FBI. The report found issues in information sharing, failure to follow up on leads, computer technology issues, and failure of the FBI headquarters to coordinate two field offices working on leads related to Hasan. In August 2013,
Mother Jones magazine described multiple intercepted e-mails from Hasan to Awlaki. In one 2008 e-mail, Hasan asked Awlaki whether he considered those who died attacking their fellow soldiers "Shaheeds", or martyrs. In a 2009 e-mail, Hasan asked Awlaki whether "indiscriminately killing civilians" was allowed. Both e-mails were forwarded to the Defense Criminal Investigative Services (DCIS). However, DCIS failed to connect the two e-mails to each other, and the 2008 e-mail was given only a cursory investigation. A DCIS agent later explained that the subject was "politically sensitive". In November 2013, Army Secretary
John M. McHugh is quoted as writing that he has "directed my staff to conduct a thorough review of the record of trial in the court-martial of Major Hasan to ascertain if those proceedings revealed new evidence or information that establishes clearly the necessary link to international terrorism". ==Lawsuit==