BUFFALO, New York – A western New York man accused of beheading his wife at the Muslim-oriented television station they founded will claim he was a victim of years of abuse at home.
Pakistani-born Muzzammil Hassan was in a Buffalo courtroom Friday, where he fired the lawyer who has been representing him for nearly a year and hired a new one with a different strategy.
New lawyer Frank Bogulski says he'll pursue a battered-person defense.
Hassan's previous lawyer had planned to argue emotional distress prompted the February killing of 37-year-old Aasiya Hassan in offices of the suburban Buffalo television station.
Prosecutors say the case has dragged on too long and they want the judge to bar any psychiatric defense.
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