Nidal Hasan Rests His Case —Without Offering Defense

Nidal Hasan, the soldier on trial for the 2009 shooting rampage at Fort Hood, rested his case without calling any witnesses in his defense today. About five minutes after proceedings began, the judge asked Hasan—who is representing himself—how he wanted to proceed. He answered: "The defense rests." During his brief opening statement, he said evidence would show he was the shooter, and he said he'd "switched sides."

Hasan has made no attempt to prove his innocence or challenge the narrative of military prosecutors, who showed evidence of Hasan using his laptop to run Internet searches for "jihad" and find articles about calls to attack Americans in the days and even hours before the shooting, which left 13 dead and more than 30 wounded. He seldom spoke during the trial and questioned only three of the nearly 90 witnesses called by prosecutors. He faces the death penalty if convicted. (More Nidal Malik Hasan stories.)