Judge orders Fort Hood shooting suspect to be shaven

A military judge Thursday ordered the suspect in the 2009 Fort Hood shootings to be forcibly shaven due to Army regulations before his trial proceeds.

Judge Col. Gregory Gross ruled that Maj. Nidal Hasan must be shaved before his murder trial begins, according to the Killeen Daily Herald, after Hasan and his attorneys objected to the shaving for religious reasons.

Gross said he will not schedule any future hearings, however, until the Army Court of Criminal Appeals rules on Hasan’s beard.

Hasan, who faces the death penalty, began growing his beard for religious reasons and has argued that he should be allowed to keep the beard under the Religious Freedom Restoration Act, according to NBC News.

But his beard does not comply with the Army’s regulations on grooming, and Hasan has been found in contempt of court in pretrial hearings.

Gross said Thursday that the free practice of religion does not apply in this case, according to the Daily Herald.

Hasan is accused of 13 counts of premeditated murder and 32 of attempted premeditated murder in the November 2009 Fort Hood shooting.

---