<p>A US Army psychiatrist charged for the deadly 2009 mass shooting on a US army installation will not be allowed to plead guilty to any charges, a military judge has ruled.<br /><br /></p>.<p>Major Nidal Hasan, 40, charged with 13 counts of premeditated murder and 32 counts of attempted premeditated murder, faces the death penalty if convicted.<br /><br />Col Tara Osborn yesterday ruled that pre-trial publicity around the case would not unfairly prejudice a jury and set the start of jury selection for May 29.Testimony is scheduled to begin on July 1.<br /><br />Hasan's attorneys previously said he was ready to plead guilty to the 13 counts of premeditated murder he faces in the worst mass shooting on a US military installation, but Army rules prohibit a judge from accepting a guilty plea to charges that carry the death penalty.<br /><br />According to military law, however, he cannot plead guilty because it is a death Defence attorneys then asked that Hasan be allowed to plead guilty to 13 counts of unpremeditated murder, which does not carry the death penalty.<br /><br />No guilty pleas would have stopped his murder trial or possibility of being sentenced to death.<br /><br />But the judge ruled Hasan cannot plead guilty to those lesser charges or the 32 counts of attempted premeditated murder that he also faces.<br /><br />He still would have been tried on the premeditated murder charges, so pleading guilty to the attempted premeditated murder charges could have been used against him at trial, Osborn said.<br /><br />She also said he would not be allowed to plead guilty to unpremeditated murder and unpremeditated attempted murder, because that "would be the functional equivalent of pleading guilty to a capital offence."<br /><br />A US-born citizen of Palestinian descent, Hasan was a licensed psychiatrist who joined the Army in 1997.<br /><br />He had been scheduled to deploy to Afghanistan before the killings, but had been telling his family since 2001 that he wanted to get out of the military.<br /><br />Hasan had told his family he had been taunted after the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001.</p>
<p>A US Army psychiatrist charged for the deadly 2009 mass shooting on a US army installation will not be allowed to plead guilty to any charges, a military judge has ruled.<br /><br /></p>.<p>Major Nidal Hasan, 40, charged with 13 counts of premeditated murder and 32 counts of attempted premeditated murder, faces the death penalty if convicted.<br /><br />Col Tara Osborn yesterday ruled that pre-trial publicity around the case would not unfairly prejudice a jury and set the start of jury selection for May 29.Testimony is scheduled to begin on July 1.<br /><br />Hasan's attorneys previously said he was ready to plead guilty to the 13 counts of premeditated murder he faces in the worst mass shooting on a US military installation, but Army rules prohibit a judge from accepting a guilty plea to charges that carry the death penalty.<br /><br />According to military law, however, he cannot plead guilty because it is a death Defence attorneys then asked that Hasan be allowed to plead guilty to 13 counts of unpremeditated murder, which does not carry the death penalty.<br /><br />No guilty pleas would have stopped his murder trial or possibility of being sentenced to death.<br /><br />But the judge ruled Hasan cannot plead guilty to those lesser charges or the 32 counts of attempted premeditated murder that he also faces.<br /><br />He still would have been tried on the premeditated murder charges, so pleading guilty to the attempted premeditated murder charges could have been used against him at trial, Osborn said.<br /><br />She also said he would not be allowed to plead guilty to unpremeditated murder and unpremeditated attempted murder, because that "would be the functional equivalent of pleading guilty to a capital offence."<br /><br />A US-born citizen of Palestinian descent, Hasan was a licensed psychiatrist who joined the Army in 1997.<br /><br />He had been scheduled to deploy to Afghanistan before the killings, but had been telling his family since 2001 that he wanted to get out of the military.<br /><br />Hasan had told his family he had been taunted after the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001.</p>