Man accused of beheading wife claims abuse

He's the victim. Right. Emphasis added. [Link]

Through his new lawyer, Muzzammil S. "Mo" Hassan claimed Friday that he was a "battered spouse" who was left emotionally out of control by the constant abuse his wife inflicted on him.

Hassan's lawyer, Frank M. Bogulski, called the legal defense the first of its kind in the country.

"The spouse was the dominant figure in this relationship," Bogulski told a reporter afterward. "He was the victim. She was verbally abusive. She had humiliated him."

The allegations prompted an immediate rebuke from the prosecution.

"He chopped her head off," District Attorney Frank A. Sedita III said of Hassan. "He chopped her head off. That's all I have to say about Mr. Hassan's apparent defense that he was a battered spouse."

Hassan, 45, is charged with second-degree murder in the Feb. 12 beheading of his wife, Aasiya Zubair Hassan, 37. The Pakistani-born couple were best known for Bridges TV, the station they formed in 2004 to counter negative Muslim stereotypes.

Stereotypes like beheading those you disagree with.