Hasan judge denies motion for recusal

FORT HOOD, Texas (KXAN/CNN) - Military Judge Col. Gregory Gross denied a motion from suspected Fort Hood shooter Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan's defense team to recuse himself.

Lawyers on both sides began a pretrial hearing at 9:00 a.m. in the Lawrence J. Williams Judicial Center, which went on for a little under an hour before then heading into a 45-minute recess.

The defense asked the judge disqualify himself from the trial since he works on the installation and was in court when the 2009 mass shooting happened.

The defense made the motion for recusal, saying Gross was affected by the shooting because of his close ties to the post -- adding that he has an "implied bias."

Still, the prosecution said they did not agree with the motion, saying Gross is capable of hearing the case.

Gross' decision to deny the motion came after the morning recess, and the defense made more motions regarding equal protection under the military system. Hasan's team argued that the military court system would not provide Hasan the same rights and protections that the federal system would.

They made separate motions, each essentially regarding the same issue -- to which Gross said he would reserve ruling for now until a later date.

The last court appearance was on Oct. 27.

At that hearing, the parties litigated to the judge whether Hasan was entitled to a jury consultant expert and a media consultant expert at government expense. The military judge has not yet ruled on those motions, and it is not known whether he will announce his rulings on these matters at Wednesday's hearing.

Meanwhile, Hasan's trial is scheduled to begin on March 5, 2012.

Hasan faces 13 counts of premeditated murder and 32 counts of attempted premeditated murder for the 2009 attack.

Earlier this month, 83 survivors of the mass shooting filed lawsuits against the U.S. Army.

They are seeking $750 million in compensation, claiming willful negligence enabled Hasan to carry out the attacks.