Prosecutors are prepared to challenge the legality of any type of insanity-related defense Muzzammil S. “Mo” Hassan might raise in the decapitation of his estranged wife, they told a judge today.
Erie County Judge Thomas P. Franczyk scheduled a Jan. 19 start for jury selection in the television entrepreneur’s murder trial. He’s accused in the Feb. 12 killing of Aasiya Zubair Hassan, 37, in the Orchard Park TV studio where they both worked.
During today’s court session, the judge mentioned that defense attorney James P. Harrington has suggested the possibility of some sort of psychiatric defense, but has yet to file pre-trial motions on that issue.
Prosecutor Colleen Curtin Gable stressed to the judge that the Erie County District Attorney’s Office is prepared to challenge any such defense strategy, if raised, at a scheduled Aug. 7 pre-trial session.
Hassan, 44, has been jailed since turning himself in to Orchard Park police an hour or so after the decapitation in the studios of the Bridges TV station he and his estranged wife had founded. The tall, powerfully-built native of Pakistan, dressed in a tan business suit, white shirt and tie, did not speak in court.
After the judge noted that Harrington has not sought pre-trial hearings to challenge the legality of any statements Hassan made to police the day of the slaying, the veteran defense attorney told the judge “that’s an accurate statement.”