CASE WESTERN RESERVE UNIVERSITY Accused shooter of YSU grad seeks lawyers' dismissal

The Youngstown native was working toward an MBA at the grad school when he was fatally shot.
STAFF/WIRE REPORT
CLEVELAND -- The man charged with killing a student during a shooting rampage at a business school a year ago has asked a judge five times to disqualify his court-appointed lawyers, contending they are helping prosecute him.
On Friday, Case Western Reserve University held a private memorial service to mark the anniversary of the shooting of Youngstown native Norman Eugene Wallace.
Wallace, a 1991 graduate of Calvary Christian Academy, was living in Cleveland after graduating with a degree in finance in 1997 from Youngstown State University.
Biswanath Halder, 63, of Cleveland, pleaded innocent last May to 338 charges, including aggravated murder and terrorism. If convicted, he could receive the death penalty. He remains in the Cuyahoga County Jail without bond.
Wallace had no connection to Halder. He was the first person the gunman encountered, police said.
Wallace, had he progressed in his studies as expected, would have been awarded his MBA this year during the university's commencement May 16. The university will keep a chair empty at the ceremony in Wallace's memory.
Halder's lawyers, two public defenders and one private attorney, are waiting for completion of psychological evaluations and may consider a plea change to innocent by reason of insanity, said one of the attorneys, William Thompson.
Trapped in building
Nearly 100 people were trapped during the seven-hour standoff, hiding in offices, classrooms and closets in the Weatherhead School of Management's Peter B. Lewis building, a shiny, swirling structure with twisting corridors that complicated Halder's capture.
Police said Halder, a graduate of the business school, entered the building May 9, 2003, with two guns and shot Wallace, who was talking with friends on the first floor. Two others were injured.
Cuyahoga County Assistant Prosecutor Rick Bell said Halder opened fire because he believed a student computer lab employee had hacked into his Web site.
Halder, a native of Calcutta, India, blamed the employee in a lawsuit before the attack for destroying his Web site devoted to helping fellow India natives form businesses. The lawsuit was dismissed.
Requests
In Halder's most recent request March 24 to disqualify his defense lawyers, his handwritten note explained that he wants his lawyers to stop concentrating on him and focus on the university employee he had sued. The note said the person "is hell-bent on destroying the information infrastructure that has elevated human kind to a new level."
In a similar request Oct. 30, Halder wrote: "My lawyers are my biggest enemies -- they have been working for the prosecution."
Cuyahoga County public defender Thompson said the defense team has no intention of leaving the case.
Judge Judith Kilbane-Koch has not responded to the requests Halder has made since September.
Halder also was charged with the attempted murder of police officers and civilians, kidnapping, aggravated burglary and illegal weapons possession.