By BEN CASSELMAN and MIGUEL BUSTILLO

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB125790264452442789.html

BELTON, Texas — The retired Army colonel hired to represent the alleged Fort Hood gunman has handled the defense in several high-profile military cases and has a national reputation for successfully defending soldiers being tried on serious charges.

None of John P. Galligan’s clients have been under as much national scrutiny as has Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan, the Army psychiatrist accused of killing 13 people last week and wounding dozens at the Fort Hood military base in Texas.

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CBS Television NetworkJohn P. Galligan appeared Tuesday on TV after meeting with Maj. Nidal Hasan, the man suspected in the deadly shooting at Fort Hood last week.

Mr. Galligan said in an interview that he is concerned it will be difficult for Maj. Hasan to get a fair trial because of the intense publicity generated by the shooting, as well as by the memorial service attended by President Barack Obama and other dignitaries on Tuesday.

“You’ve got to worry any time you’ve got something this high visibility,” he said in his office in Belton, a small city close to the base. “The fact that we had this assembly of so many senior people, it’s a factor that I’m going to have to consider.”

Mr. Galligan said it was far too early to talk about his strategy in the case, noting that he had been on the case for just 24 hours, after being hired by family members he wouldn’t name. He said he doesn’t yet know what Maj. Hasan will be charged with, where he will be tried, or even whether he will be tried in military or civilian court.

Mr. Galligan would say little about his client, with whom he met for about half an hour Monday, except to say that Maj. Hasan is coherent. Maj. Hasan also has a lawyer appointed by the military, Maj. Chris Martin, who Mr. Galligan said was the senior defense counsel at Fort Hood.

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Suspected Fort Hood Shooter’s Attorney Has Long History

in Army Law, Says Client ‘Coherent’

Tuesday, November 10, 2009

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,573625,00.html

State Bar of Texas

Retired Colonel John P. Galligan

The lawyer for the Army psychiatrist accused in the mass shooting at Fort Hood says the suspected gunman was “coherent” when he spoke to him and he is “aware that he’s a suspect,” The Associated Press reported.

Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan’s attorney is retired Col. John P. Galligan, who has a long history practicing Army law and last served as Chief Circuit Judge at Fort Hood in Texas.

Galligan said on CBS’ “The Early Show” that he assured Hasan he’ll be fairly treated in the military courts system and his rights will be respected, according to the AP.

Galligan said Hasan, 39, was lucid and knew he was a suspect in the mass killings, “but there were no formal charges that I could discuss with him.” The two met on Monday.

Galligan said Tuesday he thought it would be difficult for Hasan to get a fair trial at Fort Hood in Texas “given the national media attention that has been focused” on the massacre, which left 13 dead and more than two dozen wounded.

Hasan is suspected of opening fire the afternoon of Nov. 5 at a military processing center for soldiers coming back from and heading to war in Afghanistan or Iraq.

At the time of Galligan’s 2001 retirement, he was serving as the Chief Circuit Judge, 3rd Judicial Circuit, at Fort Hood.

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