The case should be easy to prove. But what will be more difficult is  to figure out what authorities could have done differently to avoid this craziness.

Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan/dod photo

The blood-thirsty Army major accused of carrying out the Fort Hood massacre was charged Thursday with 13 counts of premeditated murder, officials said.

Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan will be eligible for the death penalty, if convicted.

The 39-year-old army psychiatrist will face justice in a military court, and prosecutors are expected to begin setting in motion the military equivalent of a grand jury.

Under the military system, Hasan’s fellow Army officers will decide whether he is guilty of mass murder, and, if so, on his punishment. He would be put to death by lethal injection.

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By Allan Lengel

A 26-year-old man was charged earlier this week with possession of a firearm after felony convictions after  he tried to avoid arrest by shooting at members of the FBI Violent Crimes Task Force in the Kansas City, Ks., area.

According to an FBI affidavit, task force members tried to arrest Nicholas Henry, a convicted felon, on Nov. 1 in the town of Olathe, Ks. He was wanted on an outstanding warrants, and the red Dodge pickup he was driving had been reported stolen.

The U.S. Attorney’s Office said when the task force members approached Henry, “he ran to the stolen truck, removed a handgun and a bulletproof vest and began firing at them. They returned fire. He was arrested and treated for gunshot wounds.” No law enforcement people were injured.

Henry’s previous convictions included burglary of a vehicle, forgery, attempted aggravated escape from custody, aggravated assault and felony theft, authorties said.

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Bernie Madoff

Let’s just hope Bernie Madoff’s ego isn’t bruised knowing that people aren’t immediately snapping up his swanky properties in Manhattan and Palm Beach, Fla.

Reuters news service reports that the government has had to lower the asking price, the result of a a soft market.

“Madoff’s 4,000-square-foot duplex Manhattan penthouse, ‘perched atop a distinguished white-glove prewar cooperative’ according to the broker Sotheby’s International Realty, is now being offered for $8.9 million, 10 percent below its initial $9.9 million asking price,” Reuters reported.

The price of the 8,750-square-foot Palm Beach home was slashed 7 percent to $7.9 million, the news agency reported. The proceeds will go to help pay back some of the folks Madoff ripped off.

WASHINGTON — A man was killed Wednesday after being hit by two armored Secret Service vehicles on a freeway at the D.C.-Maryland border, the Washington Post reported.  One of the cars, a limo, is sometimes used by Vice President Biden.

The man, whose name had not been released as of Wednesday, was hit by a limousine and a Chevrolet Suburban in Prince George’s County at 2:27 a.m. as “he was crossing rain-slicked Suitland Parkway”, the Post reported.

The two vehicles had just arrived by military plane at Andrews Air Force Base and were headed to a storage facility in Washington, the Post reported. They were not carrying any protectees.

The U.S. Park Police will investigate the crash.

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