DidMajor Terrorist is appealing his forcible shaving.
A military appeals court wants to hear oral arguments before deciding if the Army psychiatrist charged in the Fort Hood shooting rampage can be forcibly shaved before his murder trial.
Fort Hood released the decision late Tuesday from the Army Court of Criminal Appeals.
Maj. Nidal Hasan says he grew a beard because his Muslim faith requires it, despite the Army’s ban on beards.
He is appealing the trial judge’s order that he be forcibly shaved, which his attorneys say violates his right to practice his religion without substantial government intrusion.
I don’t know how necessary this all is (also I’m not in the military, so maybe those of you can help me on this), Can’t they just ban him from the trial (ie contempt of court….I mean if you pull out your Hog during a trail, they remove you) until he shaves. Its not like a defendant NEEDS to be present to be tired or convicted.
What am I missing here? Why are we burning so many calories over this guy’s obvious troll of the system? Especially when we KNOW he did it, and know WHY he did it. Give him his fair trial, weather he wants to play or not, and then use the force when sticking a needle in his arm!
H/T. Bubblehead Les
He’s going to lose this appeal because your chance to follow all the minutia of your religion is BEFORE you join.
You agree to follow and obey the UCMJ by both oath and contract when you sign up regardless of being an officer or enlisted. In case of conflict between the regs and the minutia, regs win.
I’m willing to bet that this is summarily dismissed by the courts martial.
Big +1, he was clean shaven when he joined. Clean shaven when he was preaching jihad and freaking out his colleagues, an clean shaven when he started shooting his comrades while yelling “Allah hu Akbar!”
The beard is a big troll. He didn’t seem to care about his chin spinach until he was facing the needle.
From what I understand, the Army’s shaving requirement has to do with getting a good seal on a gas mask in case a soldier needs to use one in combat. Since this guy isn’t going anywhere near the front lines or chemical weapons, this whole thing is pretty stupid if you ask me.
I agree with McThag,
The real issue is somewhat weird for a lot of civilians to understand — until he is convicted and cashiered, he is still a serving officer, and entitled to appear in full uniform, including decorations. Contrawise, he is still a serving officer, and is required to maintain uniform regs and regulations require full uniform, with decorations, for a courts-martial duty (even as accused).
Since he never had a religious exemption before (and he could have applied for one — although they are only normally granted to chaplains, and even then, normally only a scruff you can still seal a gas mask around is authorized — not the full fledged Ayatollah Santa beard Major Treason wants.
However, I’m OK with dummying up a {wink, wink, nudge, nudge} “medical shaving profile”, like some troops can get. (Some commands are more lenient than others — basically, unless you have active necrotizing fascitis of the face, the USMC won’t authorize one, but if you’re in the 4486th Mess Kit Repair Battalion of the Natioinal Guard, a couple of pimples miught qualify.)
Let him grow a “medically authorized” beard. Say 1/4″ long. Given his heritage, that’s what, 24 hour shadow? {grin}
Then, hold the courts-martial. The sooner we carry out the military death warrant, the better. Better if we could use a firing squad in the Leavenworth courtyard, but as far as I know, all US military executions are supposed to be by lethal injection, unless you’re under field conditions.
I’m telling you, give me a rusty razor and some lye soap made from bacon fat and I’ll do it.
I have a friend who still has nightmares.
I would offer to shave him with a flamethrower, but I suspect they’d turn down my offer.
Can we fuel it on thickened rendered hog fat?
Wait until Obama loses the election.
Then boot him with a dishonorable discharge, and let a federal prosecutor charge him with treason.
Geokyte: Your 1/4″ beard solution sounds good to me.
I remember something about the Al-Queda Manual saying that, if Captured, one is supposed to do everything possible to Delay and Gum Up the Justice System. Remember the Brouhaha that the Nameless Scum Hi-Jacker who didn’t get to play on 9/11 did to the Court System a few years back? Same thing here.
Yep. It’s lawfare, continuing the jihad in the courts.
He’s an enemy infiltrator. Treat him appropriately.
He raised his right hand. He took his oath. He signed on the not-so-dotted line. Once he did that, he agreed to abide by the rules and restrictions imposed by the Uniform Code of Military Justice, and whatever lawful orders his superiors decide to give him. One such requirement is that you remain clean-shaven, excluding a mustache that fits in increasingly limiting requirements, unless you have a doctor’s note to not shave for certain medical reasons (they do exist, I do not know what they are).
Hold his murderous ass down, tie him up if you have to, shave his face, and try him already. And add “insubordination” and “conduct unbecoming an officer” just for the gos-se and giggles of it.
Two considerations I don’t see mentioned so far.
1) Whatever the courts ruling may prove to be, the recommended sentence is just that and subject to review by higher command authority. The Court’s treatment of and demonstrated regard for the accused are taken into consideration during the sentence review process. Some JAG weenie will point out every instance of an appearance of disregard for the accused in every aspect of the trial process. To include the pre-trial motions and rulings. This is out of a perfectly legitimate concern that any accused actually does receive fair and honest judgement and that the spirit and letter of the entire UCMJ be respected.
2) No one can possibly not be aware of the tremendous degree of political interest in this case. The convening officer and ruling authority(s) can be assumed to have a healthy regard for their own careers at the least if not necessarily the same degree of automatic attention to the procedurally unacknowledged realpolitik realities also included in the specification of charges to be judged.
I think we can all count on this Court deliberately being seen to be paying actually unreasonable attention to the accused’s appearance of receiving fair treatment in every aspect of the trial proceedings. Just wait ’till the sentence is read and submitted for consideration; that’s when the real political pressure will come to the fore I bet.
I’m just disgusted at how the formerly clean-cut and dried Courts Martial process has turned into civilian court proceedings.
Our courts and the military’s courts are intended for different purposes and don’t interchange well.