Sgt. Shot Unarmed Iraqi, Soldier Says- Court Martial Attorneys Fight
By ANGELA K. BROWN – 1 day ago
FORT HOOD, Texas (AP) — An Army sergeant kicked and shot an Iraqi insurgent who lay bleeding from nearly two dozen gunshot wounds, then after he was dead told fellow soldiers to say the man had been armed, a private at the scene testified Tuesday.
Sgt. Leonardo Trevino, 30, is charged with premeditated murder, attempted murder, assault and obstruction of justice in the suspected June incidents in Muqdadiyah, Iraq.
After the Article 32 hearing, similar to a civilian grand jury, the investigating officer will decide whether there is enough evidence to support the charges and then recommend whether to refer Trevino to a court-martial, a military trial.
Trevino’s attorney Richard Stevens has said his client is wrongly accused.
That night in June, squad leader Trevino had led a “small kill team” to an area where insurgents were reportedly making improvised explosive devices, Pvt. Tristan Miller testified.
The soldiers got into a gun battle with three insurgents, killing one who had an AK-47, then went after the other two, Miller said. One got away, but they followed a trail of blood into a house where an insurgent lay crying and bleeding, Miller said.
Trevino kicked the man in the head and later shot him in the abdomen, even after Miller found no weapons under a pillow covering the man’s bleeding arm, Miller said. Miller, who acknowledged that he earlier kicked the man’s hand as he grabbed at him, said the insurgent was not a threat because he was “shot to hell” from the earlier gun battle.
“Trevino looks at us, and he said, ‘I don’t want this coming back on you guys,’” Miller said. “… Trevino goes, ‘The story is, the guy had a pistol. That’s that.’”
Cpl. Justin Whiteman then placed a pistol by the Iraqi’s body, Miller said. Whiteman, who invoked his right not to testify when he was called as a witness Tuesday, has been charged with dereliction of duty for failing to provide aid and with accessory to attempted premeditated murder.
Whiteman also is accused of shooting the body of the first Iraqi insurgent killed, who was already dead in the street, and is charged with dereliction of duty for violating a law of war.
“Everybody was pretty excited, taking pictures,” Miller said, referring to soldiers surrounding the body of the first insurgent killed.
But Sgt. Reginald Graham, the platoon sergeant, said Miller and three other soldiers didn’t report the incident until much later. Graham said he didn’t believe their explanation that they were scared of retaliation but believes they came forward because they disliked Trevino.
“He’s outstanding,” Graham said, adding that he had no concerns over Trevino’s leadership style.
During questioning by Trevino’s attorney, Miller said that he liked the squad leader “for the most part” but that “I think some of the stuff he did was stupid.” When asked whether he had been paying full attention to the events that night, Miller acknowledged that he felt sick after seeing the badly wounded insurgent.
Spc. John Torres has been charged with attempted premeditated murder and with dereliction of duty for failing to provide aid. Torres also invoked his right not to testify on Tuesday.
Stevens said Trevino and other soldiers were upset over losing several friends killed in roadside bombings and a helicopter crash about a month earlier, Stevens said. When the hearing continues Wednesday, he said, he plans to present into evidence a videotape of Trevino speaking at the memorial service of one of those soldiers.
Marine Faces Court-Martial in Iraq Death
By CHELSEA J. CARTER – Dec 3, 2007
CAMP PENDLETON, Calif. (AP) — A jury was selected Monday to hear the court-martial of a Marine reservist accused of murdering an Iraqi soldier while the two stood guard together in Fallujah.
Three officers and five enlisted officers were impaneled to determine the innocence or guilt of Lance Cpl. Delano Holmes. Holmes has admitted stabbing to death Pvt. Munther Jasem Muhammed Hassin on Dec. 31, 2006, at a security post, but said he did so in self defense.
Holmes, 22, of Indianapolis, has pleaded not guilty to charges of unpremeditated murder and making a false statement. If convicted on all counts, Holmes faces life imprisonment with the possibility of parole. Opening arguments were set to begin Tuesday.
Attorneys for both sides argued motions over the use of photographs of Hassin’s body as evidence and the use of statements taken from Iraqis as part of the investigation.
One of Holmes’ civilian attorneys, Stephanie Byerly, told the judge, Lt. Col. Jeffrey Meeks, it was not clear when the photos were taken — before or after the body was removed by Iraqis and turned over to Americans. Prosecutors told Meeks the pictures were taken within an hour of the fight.
Meeks allowed some of the photographs but temporarily excluded use of a graphic video, which showed the body on the ground after the fight.
The killing occurred in the pre-dawn darkness after Hassin allegedly opened his cell phone then lit a cigarette at the post, said another Holmes attorney, Steve Cook.
The men were not supposed to display illuminated objects because of the threat of sniper fire, and Holmes made repeated attempts to get Hassin to extinguish the cigarette, Cook said.
Holmes maintains he knocked the cigarette out of the soldier’s hand and the two got into a fight, falling to the ground. During the struggle, Holmes felt Hassin reaching for his loaded AK-47, so he killed him with a utility knife and then radioed for help, Cook told The Associated Press prior to the start of the court martial. lawyer
Cook said Holmes was charged with murder because of the political climate at the time, citing incidents at Haditha and Hamandia where Marines were accused of murdering civilians.
“The military was attempting to show … they were going to treat seriously or crack down on any allegations against Marines,” Cook said.
But the prosecutor, Maj. Christopher Shaw, hinted during motions arguments that it was a fight gone bad with Holmes stabbing, slashing and cutting the victim more than 40 times.
Cook, a former federal prosecutor in San Diego, said he expects to call 20 to 30 defense witnesses, many of whom will testify for Holmes. The court-martial was expected to last about two weeks.
Holmes, who is being held in the brig at Camp Pendleton, enlisted in the Marine reserves in May 2004 and was on his first deployment in Iraq, Cook said. He is from the 1st Battalion, 24th Marine Regiment, based out of Lansing, Mich.
Lackland Air Force Base officer court martialed of committing indecent acts
This Air Force Captain got a 10 year sentence for indecent acts with
children. The article does not explain what the acts were. If this
case were prosecuted under the new enhanced and expanded UCMJ, this officer may have been charged at court martial with more serious crimes with much higher
sentence caps. Court martial attorneys are now faced with dealing with more strict and serious sex offenses under a recent 2007 update to the code (UCMJ).
(Media-Newswire.com) – 12/7/2007 – LACKLAND AIR FORCE BASE, Texas ( AFPN ) — During a military court martial Dec. 3 at Lackland Air Force Base, Texas, a captain was convicted of committing indecent acts with two children. Dec. 4 the court sentenced Captain Edward Hudson to 10 years confinement, total forfeitures of pay and allowances and dismissal from the Air Force.
The Air Force expects our Airmen to maintain the highest standards of conduct, base officials said. Allegations of criminal misconduct are thoroughly investigated and, if supported by the evidence, prosecuted under the Uniform Code of Military Justice. Captain Hudson was immediately placed into local military confinement following sentencing and will be eventually transferred to a long term military correction facility.
Navy chaplain sentenced to 2 years in prison at court martial
12/06/2007
By MATTHEW BARAKAT / Associated Press
An HIV-positive Navy chaplain was sentenced to two years in prison Thursday after admitting that he forced himself on a Naval Academy midshipman and had sex with an Air Force officer without disclosing his HIV status. He wa was defended my attorney Dave Sheldon.
Lt. Cmdr. John Thomas Lee, 42, of Burke, Va., was sentenced after reaching a plea agreement with prosecutors at a court-martial at Quantico Marine Corps Base, south of Washington.
Lee, a Roman Catholic priest, was assigned to the U.S. Naval Academy from 2003 to 2006 and later to Quantico.
As part of the plea agreement, he admitted that he learned of his HIV status in 2005. In December 2006, he had sex with an Air Force lieutenant colonel, and lied to the victim about his HIV status when asked.
The forcible sodomy with the midshipman occurred in the fall of 2004, when the midshipman was in his junior year. The midshipman, who was not identified, testified in the trial’s sentencing phase that he allowed Lee to perform oral sex on him because he was intimidated by Lee’s status as a chaplain.
“This was a priest. This was a guy who knew all of my darkest secrets,” the victim, now a Navy ensign, said on the witness stand. He had previously received counseling from Lee.
Marine spokesman Maj. Tim Keefe said after Thursday’s hearing that nobody is known to have actually contracted HIV from Lee.
In addition to sodomy, Lee was charged with conduct unbecoming a military officer, aggravated assault and indecent assault and fraternization.
Lee was ordained as a priest in 1993 and began serving as a military chaplain in 1996, said Julia Rota, a spokeswoman for the Archdiocese of the Military Services, which oversees Catholic priests in the military. His faculties to function as a priest were revoked in June, after an accuser came forward, Rota said.
Lee was commissioned as an officer in 1988, according to military records. He served at the Naval Academy from September 2003 until October 2006, and later was reassigned to Quantico. He was relieved of his duties in June.
His previous assignments include Camp Pendleton in California, Pearl Harbor and Italy
Suicide Attempt Prompts Court Martial
The Washington Post December 03, 2007
WASHINGTON – At Walter Reed Army Medical Center, 1st Lt. Elizabeth White-side listened last week as an Army prosecutor outlined the criminal case against her. The charges: attempting suicide and endangering the life of another soldier while serving in Iraq.
Her hands trembled as Maj. Stefan Wolfe, the prosecutor, argued that Whiteside, now a psychiatric outpatient at Walter Reed, should be court-martialed. After seven years of exemplary service, the 25- year-old Army reservist faces the possibility of life in prison if she is tried and convicted.
Military psychiatrists at Walter Reed who examined Whiteside after she recovered from a self-inflicted gun wound in the stomach diagnosed her with a severe mental disorder, possibly triggered by the stresses of a war zone. But Whiteside’s superiors considered her mental illness “an excuse” for criminal conduct, according to documents obtained by The Washington Post.
At the hearing, Wolfe, who already had warned Whiteside’s lawyer of the risk of using a “psychobabble” defense, pressed a senior psychiatrist at Walter Reed to justify his diagnosis.
“I’m not here to play legal games,” Col. George Brandt said angrily, according to a recording of the hearing. “I am here out of the genuine concern for a human being that’s breaking and that is broken. She has a severe and significant illness. Let’s treat her as a human being.”
In recent months, prodded by outrage over poor conditions at Walter Reed, the Army has made a highly publicized effort to improve treatment of Iraq veterans and change a culture that stigmatizes mental illness.
But outside the Pentagon, the military still often deals with mental health issues by relying on the judgment of combat-hardened commanders whose understanding of mental illness is vague or misinformed. The stigma around psychological wounds still can be seen in the smallest of Army policies. While family members of Soldiers recovering at Walter Reed from physical injuries are provided free lodging and a per diem to care for their loved ones, families of psychiatric outpatients usually have to pay their own way.
“It’s a disgrace,” said Tom Whiteside, a former Marine and retired federal law enforcement officer who lost his free housing after his daughter’s physical wounds had healed enough that she could be moved to the psychiatric ward. A charity organization, the Yellow Ribbon Fund, provides him with an apartment near Walter Reed so he can be near his daughter.
Under military law, Soldiers who attempt suicide can be prosecuted under the theory that it affects the order and discipline of a unit and brings discredit to the armed forces. In reality, criminal charges are extremely rare unless there is evidence the attempt was an effort to avoid service or endangered others.
Elizabeth Whiteside almost accepted the Army’s offer to resign in lieu of court-martial. But it meant she would have to explain for the rest of her life why she was not given an honorable discharge. Her attorney also believed she would have been left without the medical care and benefits. No decision has yet been made on whether Whiteside’s case will proceed to court-martial.
Former Navy chaplain to plead guilty to forcible sodomy at court martial
From the Associated Press – December 6, 2007
WASHINGTON — A former Navy chaplain plans to plead guilty to allegations that include forcible sodomy and failing to tell a sex partner he was HIV-positive, his lawyer said Wednesday.Lt. Cmdr. John Thomas Matthew Lee was to enter the plea today at his court-martial at Marine Corps Base Quantico in northern Virginia, said his attorney, David Sheldon.Lee, 42, plans to plead guilty to forcible sodomy, aggravated assault and other charges, Sheldon said. Military law defines failing to inform a partner of a person’s HIV status as aggravated assault, he said.Prosecutors allege that Lee, knowing he had tested positive for the virus in 2005, had sex with an Air Force lieutenant colonel last December and exposed him to the virus without telling him about his HIV status.In another instance, court documents indicate that Lee fraternized with a midshipman over a two-year period after the student came to him for counseling and advice in 2004.Lee offered the underage midshipman alcohol, engaged in sex acts, asked him to take nude photographs of Lee and e-mailed him pornographic photos, the documents said.
Extracted from Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia
Michael Stewart Waddington (born September 20, 1974, and raised in New Castle, Pennsylvania) is an American Criminal Defense lawyer specializing in serious felonies, court martial cases, and war crimes.
Bagram Abuse Cases
Michael Waddington gained international recognition for his defense of SGT Alan Driver at Fort Bliss, Texas in February 2006. Waddington was an Army Captain and JAG defense lawyer when he represented SGT Driver. SGT Driver was court martialed for allegedly abusing detainees captured in the “War on Terror” who were held at the Bagram Air Base in Afghanistan, in 2002. Driver was charged with beating a Taliban Division Commander known as Habibullah, who the Army says died of his injuries. He was also accused of throwing a shackled and handcuffed prisoner, Omar al-Faruq, against a wall. Faruq was the top al-Qaida deputy for Southeast Asia with a long history of terrorism. At trial, SGT Driver was fully acquitted of all charges after less than 15 minutes of jury deliberations. Due to threats and intimidated, which the media compared to the movie “A Few Good Men,” Waddington resigned his officer commission and became a civilian defense lawyer to continue to fight for soldiers’ rights.
Operation Iron Triangle Triple Murder – “Kill ‘em All”In June 2006, Waddington was in private legal practice when he was called on to defend SPC William B. Hunsaker in a triple murder case. Four soldiers of the 101st Airborne Division were accused of executing suspected al-Qaida insurgents that were captured during a raid near Samarra, Iraq on 9 May 2006. The case made international headlines when evidence revealed that SPC Hunsaker’s commander, COL Michael D. Steele, gave orders to “kill all military age males”?title=on the objective. The objective was a confirmed al-Qaida training compound, visited by Abu Musab al-Zarqawi. COL Steele is an officer who once commanded a Ranger company sent into Mogadishu, Somalia, on a rescue mission that was recounted in the book and movie “Black Hawk Down.”
Waddington and other defense lawyers, including Paul Bergrin, defended the four soldiers in court proceedings in Tikrit, Iraq and Fort Campbell, KY. After 8 months of legal battles, SPC Juston Graber, one of the accused, entered into an agreement with the prosecution to testify against SPC Hunsaker and the other defendants. Facing a mandatory life sentence, SPC Hunsaker and PFC Corey Clagett, another defendant, entered plea deals that reduced their maximum sentence to 18 years, making them eligible for parole after 5 1/2 years. At SPC Hunsaker’s guilty plea, he told the military judge that by killing three al-Qaida operatives, he believes that he was saving American lives and his actions were a “lesser evil for the greater good.”
Meanwhile, COL Steele received a letter of reprimand for his actions and was granted immunity from the 101st Airborne Division Commander.
Family slaughtered in the Mahmudiyah incident, Iraq
Waddington served “of counsel”?title=in the defense of SGT Anthony W. Yribe, a soldier implicated in alleged crimes committed in Mahmoudiya, Iraq on 12 March 2006. Yribe was charged with failing to report the attack but is not alleged to have been a direct participant. SGT Yribe’s team was led by Army CPT Juan Roman. Waddington provided legal consultation and advice to the defense team and SGT Yribe. Yribe was the only soldier charged in the incident to avoid a conviction and jail time.
Allegations of Detainee Abuse at the Battle of Fallajah, IraqIn February 2007, Waddington was called to defend an Army Sergeant, SFC Timothy Drake, of allegations of using a baseball bat to beat enemy insurgents captured at the 2003 Battle of Fallajah, Iraq. SFC Drake was a member of the U.S. Army’s 82nd Airborne Division, 1st Battalion, 504th Parachute Infantry Regiment, stationed at Forward Operating Base Mercury (FOB Mercury) in Iraq. The media and Human Rights Watch dubbed Drake the leader of the “The Murderous Maniacs”?title=and “Skull Crusher.”?title=Drake made 3 alleged “confessions”?title=to CID. Drake fought charges at jury trial. Skull fracture charge was dismissed. Jury acquitted Drake of cover up, encouraging assault, assault by kicking, and aggravated assault with bat. He was convicted of misdemeanor battery and lying to CID. He was sentenced to a the lowest possible sentence in military law, a Reprimand. He received no jail time, no fine, no reduction, and was retained on active duty.
Murder Allegations in Kirkuk, IraqIn July 2007, Waddington was called to defend an Army Specialist Christopher P. Shore of a premeditated murder allegation. On June 23, 2007, near Kirkuk, Iraq, a platoon of elite Army Scouts conducted a night time raid into enemy territory. Their mission was to take down a confirmed cell of Iraqi insurgents responsible for the roadside bombings of U.S. troop convoys. SPC Shore, a GA native, led the assault team into the building. By the end of the raid, one insurgent was mortally wounded and several others were captured. SPC Shore is charged with shooting the detainee after his platoon leader, SFC Trey A. Corrales, shot him with an M-4 rifle. An Article 32 investigation took place on 18 October 2007.
References
^ Golden, Tim. “In U.S. Report, Brutal Details of 2 Afghan Inmates’ Deaths“, New York Times, May 20, 2005. (About war crimes in Bagram.)
^ Golden, Tim. “Army Faltered in Investigating Detainee Abuse“, New York Times, May 22, 2005. (More about war crimes in Bagram.)
^ Summarized transcripts (.pdf), from Mohammed Sulaymon Barre’s Combatant Status Review Tribunal – pages 30-37
^ Shanker, Thom. “28 soldiers tied to 2 Afghan deaths“?title=(reprint New York Times), October 15, 2004.
^ “A look at the soldiers accused in Afghanistan abuse investigation“, Akron Beacon Journal, December 5, 2005.
^ “UN Condemns Torture of Afghans“, CRI Online, May 22, 2005.
^ “Patterns of Abuse“, Editorial, New York Times, May 23, 2005.
^ McCain Amendment roll call.
^ Profile: Omar al-Farouq, BBC, September 25, 2006
^ US resumes arms trading with Islam’s ‘voice of moderation’, The Times, November 24, 2005
^ CIA-recruited Al Qaeda Agent Omar al-Faruq Escapes from US Military Prison in Afghanistan, Guerilla News Network, November 6, 2005
^ Confessions of an al-Qaeda Terrorist, Time (magazine), September 15, 2002
^ Top al Qaeda figure killed in Iraq, Reuters, September 25, 2006
^ The ‘Band of Brothers’ Unravels – Soldier Accused of Civilian Murders Defends His Actions
^ Soldier Pleads Guilty to Iraq Murders
^ Officers Allegedly Pushed Kill Counts Investigators believe the leaders of a unit accused in Iraq detainee deaths fueled a climate of hate.
^ HRW – Leadership Failure in 82nd Airborne.
^ Army Says Improper Orders By Colonel Led to 4 Deaths.
^ Michael Waddington – Criminal Lawyer Military Defense Attorney Law Firm Web Site.
http://www.ksat.com/news/13710658/detail.html?rss=ant&psp=news
http://abqtrib.com/news/2007/jul/19/soldiers-facing-murder-charges-stemming-iraq-event/
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/07/19/world/middleeast/19cnd-iraq.html
Lakenheath rape court martial begins
Staff report
A court martial for an airman accused in two rapes began Tuesday at RAF Lakenheath, according to a base spokesman.
Airman Renato Sanchez Del Carpio, stationed at RAF Lakenheath, is charged with assaulting an airman basic on Oct. 28, 2005, and an airman on Oct. 4, 2006.
Del Carpio’s court-martial was originally scheduled for August. Stars and Stripes reported that the court-martial was delayed so that paperwork could be retrieved.
Del Carpio is a medical professional with the 48th Dental Squadron, the report said.
Court-martial to begin for airman accused in 2 rapes
By Geoff Ziezulewicz, Stars and Stripes
European edition, Tuesday, November 27, 2007
RAF MILDENHALL, England — The court martial for an airman accused of raping two other airmen is scheduled to begin Tuesday.
Airman Renato Sanchez Del Carpio, stationed at RAF Lakenheath, faces charges in connection to the Oct. 28, 2005, rape of an airman basic, and the rape of an airman on Oct. 4, 2006.
A base spokesman said the rape in 2006 took place at or near building 907, the base’s library, while the 2005 incident happened nearby at building 920, a dormitory.
Del Carpio is a medical professional with the 48th Dental Squadron.
The trial was originally slated to go forward in August, but was delayed so paperwork could be retrieved, Lakenheath representatives said at the time.
It is not clear at this point what the circumstances are surrounding the alleged rapes.
“Providing information outside the specification of charges has the potential to taint the jury and would be inappropriate to release at this time,” Lakenheath spokeswoman Capt. Tisha Wright said in an August e-mail.
Del Carpio is not being held in pretrial confinement.
Despite repeated requests, Stars and Stripes was not informed of Del Carpio’s Article 32 hearing earlier this year. An Article 32 is the equivalent of a grand jury proceeding where evidence is weighed by a judge to decide whether a case has enough merit to go to trial.
Article 32 hearings are open to the public.