Muzzammil Hassan, right, speaks with his attorney Jeremy Schwartz after opening statements during his trial in Buffalo, N.Y., Tuesday, Jan. 18, 2011. Hassan is accused of stabbing and decapitating his wife, Aasiya Hassan, in 2009 inside the studios of Bridges TV. The Pakistan-born couple founded the station to counter negative images of Muslims after 9/11. (AP Photo/David Duprey)
BUFFALO, N.Y. (AP) – A former New York television executive accused of beheading his estranged wife left the courtroom Thursday after a judge refused to let him act as his own attorney for the rest of his murder trial.
A handcuffed Muzzammil Hassan was escorted from the Buffalo courtroom by a half dozen court officers after a strident appeal to Erie County Judge Thomas Franczyk that failed to change the judge’s mind.
Hassan asked to go back to jail, rather than sit through the remainder of the day’s testimony. He said his lawyer is under-prepared.
Testimony in Hassan’s second-degree murder began Tuesday. He’s charged in the 2009 death of Aasiya Hassan inside the Muslim-oriented television station the couple started to promote cultural understanding.
(Copyright 2011 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)
