Washington, April 24: A 64- year-old Indian American, who graduated from Calcutta University with a degree in electrical engineering in 1963, has earned the dubious distinction of becoming the first person to go on trial under a new terrorism law enacted in Ohio.
If convicted of all the 338 charges Biswanath Halder, an alumnus of the Indian Military Academy in Dehra Dun, could face the death penalty four times over for killing a student and taking 141 hostages on the campus of Ohio?s Case Western Reserve University two years ago.
Halder, who emigrated to the US in 1969 and became an American citizen in 1980, was an officer in the Indian Army?s Engineering Corps and attended its Officers? Training School in Chennai, according to documents that surfaced before investigators after the May 2003 shooting, which panicked Ohio?s otherwise placid Cuyahoga County.
Halder has also earned the dubious distinction of becoming an individual against whom the largest number of charges have been filed in the entire history of Cuyahoga County.
The 338 charges against him include aggravated murder for the killing of a graduate student, Norman Wallace, 282 counts of kidnapping at the rate of two counts for each of his hostages and 36 counts of attempted murder ? one count for each bullet Halder allegedly fired at 24 police officers and six civilians during the seven-hour violent drama.
The terrorism charges against Halder spring from the new Ohio law for prosecuting those who ?intimidate or coerce a civilian population?.
Explaining the new law, Cuyahoga County prosecutor Bill Mason said: ?If, in fact, by committing aggravated murder you intimidate a civilian population, that now warrants the death penalty.?
Justice in the US is normally fast ? even though questionable ? but Halder?s case took two years to even near trial because of doubts about his sanity.
During prolonged pre-trial hearings, three forensic psychologists told the judge hearing the case, Peggy Foley Jones, their assessment of the mental condition of the Indian American.
At the time of the incident, the media in Ohio was full of stories about how Halder had railed against the US attack on Iraq and Pakistan-sponsored terrorism against India.
Halder?s resume, which surfaced after the rampage, lists his experience, among other things, as a small business consultant, real estate broker, life insurance salesman, investment strategist, engineer and computer specialist.
He has a history of being litigious, having filed numerous anti-discrimination suits against firms such as NCR and Sperry Rand, which refused to hire him.
Halder later alleged that big corporations paid off judges to defeat him.
Psychologists, who testified before judge Jones about Halder?s mental condition, said he is delusional, paranoid and psychotic. In the end, in ordering the accused to be sent for trial, the judge agreed with one of the psychologists who said Halder was capable of understanding the court proceedings despite his condition.
The Indian American broke into the Lewis building on the university?s campus and engaged in a shooting spree three weeks after an appeals court refused his plea to hear his case against a computer laboratory technician at Case Western Reserve University.
Halder is alleged to have nursed a three-year grudge against the technician, Shawn Miller, because he believed Miller posted mocking messages on Halder?s website, hacked into it and deleted computer files.
Halder repeatedly complained about Miller to the police, the FBI and the US Congress, calling him ?the evil man?, before filing a case which was thrown out by the court.
Miller is believed to have been Halder?s target when he stormed the building. The technician was then in the building?s basement, but he escaped unhurt.
