This posting provides updates in the trial of Muzzammil Hassan, who beheaded his Muslim wife, Aasiya Zubair Hassan, in February 2009, after she filed for divorce.  The case has been seen by many to be an “honor killing.” The latest reports state that Muzzammil Hassan is claiming that he was abused and was a “battered husband,” who murdered his wife in self-defense.  His attorney seeks to use this and a psychiatric defense in his March 2010 trial.  The judge stated today that he would reject an “emotional-disturbance defense,” and the prosecutor noted that Muzzammil Hassan beheaded Aasiya Hassan after she filed for divorce.

— Buffalo News reports: Judge rejects planned defense, delays in beheading case
— “The judge in Muzzammil S. ‘Mo’ Hassan’s murder case today barred his new attorney from using an emotional-disturbance defense and said he would only grant the jailed businessman further delays in his trial based solely ‘in the interests of justice.'”
— “Hassan is accused of beheading his estranged wife, Aasiya Zubair Hassan, 37, last February.”
— “Hassan’s new defense attorney, Frank M. Bogulski, today told reporters that he is ‘confident’ he can get an acquittal for Hassan on an unprecedented defense combining psychiatric elements and justification based on claims Hassan was ‘a battered’ spouse who was verbally abused and humiliated by his wife.”
— “Homicide Prosecutor Colleen Curtin Gable, though, noted that Aasiya Zubair Hassan was beheaded about a week after she began formal divorce proceedings.”
— “And Gable today won her months-old motion to bar a psychiatric defense.”
— “The judge told Bogulski he can make motions in coming months seeking permission to reinstate a psychiatric defense but as of now, such a defense claiming Hassan was emotionally out of control when he killed his wife ‘is precluded.’ ”

— WIVB reports:
— “An Orchard Park TV executive accused of beheading his wife now claims he was the victim.”
— “An attorney for Muzzamil Hassan said the Bridges TV co-owner was the victim of years of domestic abuse.”
— “His wife, Aasiya was found beheaded at the TV studios back in February.”
— “Hassan’s attorney plans to argue that his client was battered past his breaking point, and that the killing was justified.”
— “Hassan’s attorney will have to present evidence of a psychiatric defense by the time the trial resumes in March.”

Related Reports:

— October 30, 2009: Buffalo Beheading “Honor Killing” Trial: Muzzammil S. “Mo” Hassan “gets more time to pay for psychiatric expert”
— August 8, 2009: Man accused of killing wife to get mental examination — Lawyers may seek insanity defense
— March 7, 2009: NY NOW President Stands by Statement on Killings
— February 17, 2009: Buffalo: Possibility of ‘honor killing’ mulled in Orchard Park slaying