The court-appointed lawyers assigned to aid accused Fort Hood shooter Major Nidal Hasan say they are refusing to offer their legal assistance because he reportedly wants to receive the death penalty. The Army psychiatrist has admitted to opening fire on a group of soldiers at a base in Texas in 2009, killing 13 and injuring 30 others. Hasan is acting as his own defense, but is receiving the assistance of a team of attorneys to ensure the legal proceedings are handled properly. One of the lawyers said, “We request that we become truly standby counsel, that we not be ordered and forced by the court in assisting in achieving the goal of arriving at the death penalty.” Hasan has said that the reason he killed other soldiers on the day before he was to be deployed to Afghanistan was because he had switched sides, and wanted to protect fellow Muslims …
