(File)
FORT HOOD (August 3, 2012)—Accused Fort Hood gunman Maj. Nidal Hasan was back on post Friday morning for another pretrial hearing and for a second week he was held in contempt and fined $1,000 for failing to obey an order to shave.
Military judge Col. Gregory Gross sequestered Hasan in a separate trailer equipped with closed-circuit television equipment before starting the hearing.
Gross said last week that if Hasan doesn’t shave voluntarily, he will be shaved forcibly before the start of his court-martial on Aug. 20.
The beard violates Army regulations, but Hasan's attorneys say he's expressing his Muslim faith.
During the hearing Friday, Gross ruled on several defense motions, including one seeking access to redacted portions of the recently released FBI report on the Fort Hood shooting.
Gross, who reviewed the full report, denied the request.
Gross also denied defense access to information about classes that potential jury panel members have attended.
Gross announced Friday that a neurologist has examined Hasan within the past few days, but the doctor has not formalized his findings and that information also was not released.
The defense was granted $8,850 in funding for a court expert who is expected to rebut a prosecution expert's testimony on terrorism.
Gross also granted the defense $17,500 to cover the cost of an expert consultant on religious conversions, who is expected to testify that Hasan has become more religious since his arrest for the shootings on post.
Gross told attorneys he would set another hearing date for sometime next week to allow expert witnesses on both side to participate in a conference call with court personnel.
The judge also said he would set a "Daubert hearing", for next week, which is designed to allow the judge to rule on the admissibility of "expert," or scientific and technical, testimony and evidence.
Hasan is charged with 13 counts of premeditated murder and 32 counts of attempted premeditated murder in the November 2009 massacre at the post’s Soldier Readiness Center and if convicted faces either the death penalty or life without parole.
