FORT HOOD (AP) – A hearing to consider pre-trial motions in the murder case against an Army psychiatrist charged in the Fort Hood shooting rampage has been delayed after defendant Maj. Nidal Hasan showed up in court wearing a beard.

The trial judge, Col. Gregory Gross, said Hasan’s appearance at the hearing Friday violated Army regulations and is considered a disruption to the proceedings.

Gross says the hearing will be delayed until the near future when Hasan either complies with military grooming standards or watches the hearing from outside the courtroom on a video feed. Hasan’s lawyers say they’ll seek an exception to the grooming rule on religious grounds.

Hasan faces the death penalty if convicted of 13 counts of premeditated murder and 32 counts of attempted premeditated murder in the November 2009 attack.

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