Buffalo area media report on the trial preparations of Muzzammil Hassan who beheaded his wife Aasiya in February 2009, in what many believe to be an “honor killing.” Attorneys for Muzzammil Hassan are now planning a “psychiatric defense” for the former owner of Bridges TV.  His trial is currently scheduled for September 2010.

WVIB reports “Man seeks court psych defense
Muzzammil Hassan accused of beheading his wife”
— “Attorneys for an Orchard Park man accused of beheading his wife want to pursue a psychiatric defense.”
— “They’re asking the courts to give their client, 44-year-old Muzzammil Hassan, access to his bank accounts to pay for experts.”
— “Investigators said Hassan beheaded his wife, Aasiya, in February of 2009.”
— “Her body was found at the studios of Bridges Television, a Muslim TV network that the couple operated.”
— ” ‘The reality is that based on his name, based on the color of his skin, and based on the fear and the panic of all Americans of terrorists and Muslims. This man’s got a difficult time as it is,’ Hassan’s Attorney, Julie Atti Rogers explained.”
— “Jury selection could get underway in September.”

Buffalo News reports “Hassan lawyers eye psych defense”
— “Attorneys for Muzzammil S. ‘Mo’ Hassan Friday said the media and public have misconstrued Hassan’s actions in the beheading of his estranged wife, Aasiya Zubair Hassan.”
— “Many have wrongly come to regard Hassan as an Islamic terrorist, and the general public is suffering from ‘Islamophobia,’ defense attorneys Julie Atti Rogers and Frank M. Bogulski said after a court appearance Friday.”
— “Hassan is ‘a nonpracticing Muslim,’ Rogers said, while Bogulski stressed that Hassan ‘doesn’t pray five times a day’ as an obedient Muslim would.”
— “Hassan, 44, is accused of killing and beheading his 37-year-old wife on Feb. 12, 2009, soon after she began divorce proceedings against him.”
— “Erie County Judge Thomas P. Franczyk has scheduled a May 4 hearing to consider defense challenges to an alleged confession Hassan made to Orchard Park police about an hour after his wife was killed in the office of their Bridges cable television station.”
— “During a brief court session Friday, Franczyk kept in place his order barring a psychiatric defense for Hassan, but he agreed to reconsider if Hassan’s attorneys file motions in coming months.”
— “Bogulski recently claimed that the victim drove her husband into an uncontrollable homicidal rage, and he and Rogers said Friday they are confident they can convince the judge of the propriety of their defense strategy. They acknowledged they need the court-approved release of some of Hassan’s funds to finance their effort.”
— “The defense attorneys said they will go to Erie County Surrogate’s Court on Tuesday to fight for the release of money from Hassan’s bank accounts to pay for his proposed psychiatric defense.”
— “The two attorneys also said they will begin court action to try to get Hassan’s two children returned from Pakistan, where they were taken by Aasiya Zubair Hassan’s relatives.”
— “Hassan fears the children ‘will be radicalized’ in Pakistan, Bogulski said.”

Trial in NY decapitation killing now likely Sept.
— AP reports: “The founder of an Islam-oriented television station who’s accused of beheading his wife will likely be tried in September after a change of lawyers added to delays.”
— “Muzzammil ‘Mo’ Hassan (moo-ZAHM’-mel moh HAH’-sahn) was arrested in February 2009 and charged with second-degree murder following the death of Aasiyah (AH’-see-ya HAH’-sahn) Hassan in the studios of Bridges TV near Buffalo.”
— “Since then, various factors, including wrangling over his assets in surrogate court, have slowed progress toward trial. An initial January date was moved to March. During a brief court session Friday, the judge said it’s now likely the trial won’t be until September. Hassan recently fired his lawyer and hired two others with a different strategy.”

Related Reports:

— January 22, 2010: Buffalo Beheading Case: Muzzammil Hassan Attorney to Claim Murder of Wife “Was Justified”
— 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