(NECN/NBC News: Leanne Gregg) - The trial of Army Major Nidal Hasan gets underway Tuesday at Fort Hood, Texas, close to four years after a shooting rampage on base left 13 people dead and more than 30 others injured. Hasan has been charged with more than 40 counts, including pre-meditated murder.
Nidal Hasan has asked to plead guilty, but that's prohibited under military law, because prosecutors are seeking the death penalty. The trial is expected to last at least a month.
Under tight security, including sand bags and cargo containers fortifying the court building, a military prosecutor in opening statements said Nidal Hasan planned to "kill as many soldiers as he could." Hasan is representing himself, and could end up cross examining victims he's accused of shooting. Among them is Army Staff Sergeant Alonzo Lunsford who was shot seven times.
"I will not show fear in the face of the enemy, because the man that shot me, Major Hasan, is going to be the man who's going to cross-exam me. That's a huge challenge," Lunsford says.
Hasan doesn't deny he opened fire at fort hood where soldiers were receiving final medical checks before deployment in November 2009; 13 were killed and 32 others were injured.
Hasan will be allowed to testify, but a judge denied his request to argue that he shot U.S. soldiers to prevent Taliban fighters from being killed in Afghanistan.
"I believe that the judge made it quite clear that, if he starts to grandstand in any way and steps away from the rules of court, his ability to represent himself will be revoked, and his defense counsel will step in and represent him," says military law expert Lisa Windsor.
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Hasan was shot and paralyzed from the chest down in the attack. If convicted and sentenced to death, the appeals could take years.
The military jury called a panel, must be unanimous for a pre-meditated murder conviction and death sentence. Then the president, as commander in chief, must sign off on the execution.
