His comments, delivered in a soft, matter-of-fact tone, stunned many in the courtroom. Seated in the gallery behind him were Army soldiers, military police officers and relatives of some of his victims. Colonel Osborn then asked him to explain his defense, and Major Hasan asked for a recess to gather his thoughts.

When the hearing resumed a few minutes later, the judge again asked him to explain the facts supporting his defense, and he said he preferred to submit his thoughts in written form. “I don’t want to brainstorm in front of the court,” he told her.

But the judge pressed him further. When she asked if he was defending one person or a group of people, he said it was the group of Taliban leaders in Afghanistan, including Mullah Omar. The judge asked him to explain the connection between the Taliban leaders and the people he is accused of murdering and attempting to murder.

“They’re part of the United States military,” he said.

The judge delayed the start of jury selection, which had been set to begin on Wednesday, to give Major Hasan one day to find the legal authority to apply such a defense to his case. He was ordered to submit a brief to the judge by Wednesday morning, and Army prosecutors were asked to submit their own brief in response. Colonel Osborn did not rule on whether to grant Major Hasan’s request for a delay, but instead set another hearing for Wednesday afternoon to further discuss the “defense of others” issue.

The “defense of others” strategy requires a criminal defendant to prove that he was compelled to use force against an aggressor to protect a person or a group from being harmed or killed by that aggressor. In this case, Major Hasan is claiming that he was protecting Taliban leaders from death by using deadly force against Fort Hood military personnel deploying to Afghanistan.