Houston: Major Nidal Hasan, charged with killing 13 people in a military base shootout, will be kept in pre-trial confinement, initially in a hospital where he is recovering, his attorney said after his first court hearing.
Hasan, who had his first court hearing in his hospital room in San Antonio yesterday, is paralysed chest down due to the gunshot wounds he received during the shootout.
The Army psychiatrist will be confined till his military trial, which usually means in jail, but as he needs medical attention he is being kept in a hospital.
His attorney John Galligan said his client should remain in intensive care.
During a hearing at Hasan's hospital room, a magistrate ruled that there was 'probable cause' that Hasan committed the November 5 shooting spree at Fort Hood, said Galligan.
Hasan has been at Brooke Army Medical Centre since the shooting, and has been told he has permanent paralysis chest down.
Hasan has been charged with 13 counts of pre-meditated murder and his legal team is attempting to buy more time in order to determine a timely prosecution for him over his medical condition.
Meanwhile, new questions have begun to emerge about how so many signs were missed or ignored, the latest of which is a series of 18 e-mails between Hasan and Anwar Awlaki, the cleric who is considered a recruiter for al Qaeda.
PTI
First Published: Sunday, November 22, 2009, 14:27