KXXV-TV News Channel 25 - Central Texas News and Weather for Waco, Temple, Killeen | Hasan's Lawyer: Insanity plea possible, more charges could be filed

Hasan's Lawyer: Insanity plea possible, more charges could be filed

By John Cuoco

SAN ANTONIO --The lawyer of alleged Fort Hood shooter Major Nidal Malik Hasan said Sunday his client may plead not guilty and that an insanity defense is possible.

"You can't find somebody guilty if at the time of the offense they did not have the mental capacity to commit those offenses," said John Galligan, Major Hasan's attorney.

Hasan faces 13 counts of premeditated murder for the Nov. 5th shooting.

Galligan said Sunday that Hasan could also face more charges for the shooting spree, and he suspects it could relate to those 30 wounded.

The retired colonel said he was informed of this Saturday during Hasan's pretrial hearing at Brooke Army Medical Center in San Antonio, which was held in Hasan's room.

"All I can tell you is that on Friday when [Hasan] was listed as a pretrial confinee, in the paper work, they listed that more charges were being investigated," Galligan explained.

The biggest issue, for Galligan, is still Hasan's health.

"He's still paralyzed, he's paralyzed from about the upper chest down and faces more medical issues because of that paralysis," said Galligan.

He says Hasan will likely stay at Brooke Army Medical Center for the next several days and then will be transferred to another hospital.

He did add that it would not surprise him if the prosecutors put Hasan in a jail cell instead.