Buffalo man accused of beheading wife goes to trial

BUFFALO, New York (Reuters) - A trial begins on Monday in the case of a Muslim cable television producer accused of beheading his estranged wife inside a television studio the couple founded to promote cultural understanding.

In the two years since Muzzammil Hassan surrendered to police, hours after killing his wife in February 2009, he has claimed spousal abuse justified the slaying.

Jury selection begins on Monday in Erie County Court in Buffalo, where Hassan, 46, is charged with second-degree murder for beheading Aasiya Hassan, who was 37.

The mother of two, who had filed for divorce days earlier, was found stabbed and decapitated at the Bridges TV offices in Orchard Park, a suburb of Buffalo. The couple launched Bridges TV in 2004 with a mission to show Muslims in a positive light.

Hassan's attorney Jeremy Schwartz said during a pretrial hearing on Friday that he plans to pursue the abused spouse argument in his client's defense.

However, three expert witnesses once slated to help the defense now declined to testify on Hassan's behalf, according to prosecutors at the pretrial hearing.

"The three witnesses told us in no uncertain terms that they are not connected to the case anymore, and they are not testifying at this trial," prosecutor Colleen Curtin Gable told Erie County Judge Thomas Franczyk.

The defense attorney has complained that prosecutors were making it difficult to find a fair jury, due to extensive publicity surrounding the case.

The judge criticized prosecutors for a news conference they held earlier in the week, calling it "grandstanding," but declined to take any legal action against them.

The judge ordered the defense to provide a list of all possible defense witnesses so jurors who may know them are not compromised mid-trial.

The trial is expected to last a month.

(Editing by Ellen Wulfhorst and Jerry Norton)