Jury Selected To Try Fort Hood Shooting Suspect

FORT HOOD, Texas (AP) — A jury has been selected to hear the case against an Army psychiatrist accused in the Fort Hood shooting.

The panel of 13 officers will hear the case against Maj. Nidal Hasan, who is charged with 13 counts of premeditated murder and 32 counts of attempted premeditated murder. Hasan faces the death penalty if convicted in the November 2009 attack at the Texas Army post.

Hasan is serving as his own attorney. He did not use his challenge and asked only a few questions of potential jurors, including asking one colonel whether he felt he would be disobeying God or his church by imposing the death penalty.

He wore a camouflage uniform worn by troops in combat, not the dress uniform usually worn by defendants in a court-martial. He also has kept a beard that he says is an expression of his Muslim faith, though it violates Army rules on grooming.

The trial is set to start Aug. 6.

Copyright 2013 The Associated Press.