Shooting suspect paralyzed

BELTON, Texas – Maj. Nidal Hasan, the Army psychiatrist charged with killing 13 people at Fort Hood, Texas, is paralyzed from the chest down and doctors believe his paralysis will be permanent, Hasan’s lawyer said Sunday.

“He has no sensation from the nipple area down,” Hasan’s civilian attorney, John Galligan, said in a telephone interview.

During a closed-door hearing in Hasan’s hospital room on Saturday that lasted about an hour, a magistrate ruled that Hasan be confined until his military trial, Galligan said.

“In the middle of this hearing, he started to nod off and go to sleep,” Galligan said. “When I’ve spoken with him, he’s coherent, but your ability to have any meaningful exchange with him is limited in time and subject.”

Hasan has been recovering from gunshot wounds at Brooke Army Medical Center in San Antonio, where he is in intensive care. Hasan will remain in confinement until his court-martial, a date for which has not been set. He has been charged with 13 counts of premeditated murder in the Nov. 5 massacre, but Galligan said he “fully anticipates” that military prosecutors might file additional charges.