NY Beheading Suspect Seeks To Represent Himself
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.
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