By MICHAEL GRACZYK and PAUL J. WEBER
Associated Press
FORT HOOD, Texas (AP) - The judge overseeing the Fort Hood shooting trial has blocked prosecutors from using several witnesses and most evidence they'd sought to explain the motive behind the 2009 attack.
Col. Tara Osborn made the ruling Monday during the military trial of Maj. Nidal Hasan. He's accused of killing 13 people and wounding more than 30 others at the Texas military base.
Osborn told prosecutors they couldn't reference Hasan Akbar, a Muslim soldier sentenced to death for attacking fellow soldiers in Kuwait during the 2003 Iraq invasion. Prosecutors wanted to suggest a copycat attack.
Prosecutors also can't cite Hasan's interest years ago in conscientious objector status and his past academic presentations. Osborn says it's too old.
Osborn is allowing evidence about Internet searches on Hasan's computer around the time of the attack.
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