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Wednesday, Jan 30, 2013 6:15 PM UTC

Fort Hood suspect still faces possible execution

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Fort Hood suspect still faces possible executionFILE - This undated file photo provided by the Bell County Sheriff's Department shows Nidal Hasan, the Army psychiatrist charged in the deadly 2009 Fort Hood shooting rampage. The new judge in the shooting case will decide next week whether to spare Hasan the death penalty and let him plead guilty. Col. Tara Osborn has set pretrial hearings for Wednesday, Jan. 30, 2013 through Friday. (AP Photo/Bell County Sheriff's Department, File)(Credit: AP)

FORT HOOD, Texas (AP) — A judge has decided a Fort Hood shooting suspect still can face the death penalty if convicted in the worst mass shooting on a U.S. military installation.

The judge, Col. Tara Osborn, denied Maj. Nidal Hasan’s request Wednesday to remove the death penalty as a punishment option.

Osborn hasn’t yet ruled on Hasan’s request to plead guilty to 13 counts of premeditated murder in the 2009 attack on the Texas Army post. But Army rules prohibit a judge from accepting a guilty plea in a death penalty case, so her earlier ruling Wednesday indicates he would not be allowed to plead guilty.

Hasan also is charged with 32 counts of attempted premeditated murder. He faces execution or life in prison.

Osborn is hearing motions through Friday in the case.

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