By NOMAAN MERCHANT and PAUL J. WEBER
Associated Press
FORT HOOD, Texas (AP) - A military judge has resumed the Fort Hood shooting trial despite demands from the suspect's standby attorneys that they be removed from the case.
The lawyers have been helping Maj. Nidal Hasan represent himself during the trial at the Texas military base.
They asked to over his defense on Wednesday, saying Hasan appeared to be trying to convince jurors to convict him and sentence him to death.
The judge denied their request Thursday. The standby attorneys said they would appeal, saying the judge was forcing them to violate professional rules of conduct.
The judge briefly recessed but later resumed the trial, telling the lawyers to resume their roles.
Hasan is facing 13 counts of premeditated murder and 32 counts of attempted premeditated murder. If convicted, he'd face the death penalty.
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