Military judge Gregory Goss orders Ft. Hood shooting suspect forcibly shaved

August 27, 2012

Fort Worth, Texas: Texas military judge Col. Gregory Gross has ordered Maj. Nidal Hasan’s beard be shaven before his court-martial for the murder of thirteen and injury of more than two dozen resulting from the 2009 shooting on Fort Hood army base. Though such an order may seem extreme in a civilian court, it is not uncommon in a military court. In a military court judges may order defendants' faces be shaven and hair cut in accordance with what they see fit.

Hasan filed an appeal to the order with the Court of Appeals for the Armed Forces earlier this month to stop the forcible shaving; Hasan contends that the beard is an expression of his Muslim faith and is owed an exception. In response to the appeal, military attorneys argued that, "Army regulations expressly authorize nonconsensual haircutting and face-shaving for recalcitrant incarcerated soldiers. ... If the judge has authority to bind and gag a disruptive accused (soldier), then certainly he has authority to forcibly shave (Hasan)."

Though exceptions have been granted to such powers before, especially to allow for religious beliefs, the judge believes that such an exception should not granted in Hasan’s case as his religion is directly related to the crime he will face trial for, which will only create a distraction at the court-martial. Col. Gross responded to the appeal, noting that the forcible shaving of Hasan would guarantee that, “"... a military trial proceeds without a distracting and disruptive sideshow featuring an officer-accused flagrantly disrespecting the Army, his superiors, and the military judge."