FORT WORTH — The U.S. government spent nearly $5 million to court-martial and convict an Army psychiatrist of a bloody 2009 shooting rampage at Fort Hood that left 13 people dead.
Army records obtained by KXAS-TV of Fort Worth and Dallas showed the biggest pretrial expense for the court-martial of Maj. Nidal Hasan was more than $1 million for transportation for witnesses, jurors and attorneys. About $900,000 was spent on their accommodations.
Hasan had wanted to plead guilty to the charges against him but was precluded from doing so by military law because the crime is punishable by death. So Hasan acted as his own defense counsel, called no witnesses, asked few questions, was convicted and sentenced to death.
