FORT HOOD – A one-time Army psychiatrist charged with killing 13 people and wounding 32 in a rampage here more than three years ago was back in court Tuesday for the first time in months.
As Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan rolled into the small post courtroom in a wheelchair, a beard that had launched a volley of appeals and put his capital murder trial on hold was longer and thicker than on Sept. 6, the last time he was here.
All eyes were on his new judge, Col. Tara Abbey Osborn, making her first appearance in the case since an appeals court handed her the job.
Would she order him to shave the beard, as his last judge had?
She waited until the end of a 53-minute hearing to address the subject.
“I see that you are wearing a beard against Army uniform regulations,” Osborn told Hasan. “Is that a voluntary choice?”
It was, he replied.
“I'm not going to hold that against you, but some people on the panel may hold that against you,” she continued.
The beard issue wasn't decided, though it appeared he might be able to wear it. The matter may come up at a hearing next month, after Osborn reviews documents, transcripts and motions.
Previously posted at Fort Bragg, N.C., she replaced Col. Gregory Gross, who had feuded over the beard with Hasan for months and was booted as the judge by the Court of Appeals for the Armed Forces.