A judge has warned Muzzamil S. “Mo” Hassan that defending himself without an attorney in his spousal murder trial would not be in his best interests.
Erie County Judge Thomas P. Franczyk spelled out the legal risks Monday for Hassan, 45, after Jeremy D. Schwartz, Hassan’s fourth attorney, told the judge that Hassan had yet to sign an agreement to retain him.
The former cable TV executive has been jailed since turning himself in to Orchard Park police on Feb. 12, 2009, about an hour after, prosecutors allege, he beheaded his estranged wife, Aasiya Zubair Hassan, 37. She was killed in the cable TV station they co-founded, a week after she had begun divorce proceedings.
Schwartz told the judge he will represent Hassan only if he agreed to a deal before the start of jury selection, scheduled Jan. 10.
Hassan, who complained to Franczyk about Erie County Holding Center deputies taking away his psychiatric and other books, said he needs more time to decide.
After Monday’s brief court session, Schwartz said he expects to continue on the murder case at least through a Jan. 4 court session on the logistics of selecting a jury. He said he also will continue to represent Hassan in a City Court case involving misdemeanor charges filed by the Holding Center administration.
He added that if jail officials won’t return Hassan’s books, he soon might seek a court order from Franczyk directing their return.
Hassan, who earlier this year was observed in the downtown jail reading books dealing with spousal abuse issues, has talked about seeking an acquittal based on the findings of one local psychiatrist that he is suffering from “spousal abuse syndrome.”
Two weeks ago, Hassan complained to Franczyk that 16 “white Nazi” guards had waterboarded and brutalized him Nov. 10.
But in charging him with the misdemeanors, jail administrators said he had assaulted a guard.
City Judge E. Jeannette Ogden has scheduled further proceedings in that case for Jan. 7.
Over the past year, Hassan has fired three other attorneys representing him in the murder case and has yet to reach a financial arrangement with Schwartz, his attorney since last spring.