Decorated U.S. Army Sergeant and War Hero Sentenced to Life in Military Prison for Killing Four Insurgents
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090416/ap_on_re_eu/eu_germany_us_iraq_deathsThere are simply no words for this evil. No words at all. Why in the world our soldiers haven't mutinied yet in Iraq is not something that I can answer. Will this atrocious act finally change that?
US Army soldier sentenced to life in prison
By GEORGE FREY, Associated Press Writer
VILSECK, Germany – A U.S. Army soldier convicted of murder in the 2007 killings of four bound and blindfolded Iraqis was sentenced on Thursday to life in prison.
Master Sgt. John Hatley, 40, will also have his rank reduced to private, forfeit all pay and receive a dishonorable discharge, a jury of eight Army officers and noncommissioned officers decided. He has the possibility of parole after serving 20 years.
Hatley and his wife, who sat behind him in the public gallery, both showed no emotion when the sentence was read out. He declined to speak to reporters afterward.
Hatley was found guilty Wednesday of premeditated murder and conspiracy in the execution-style killings of the detainees. He was acquitted of premeditated murder in a separate January 2007 incident in which a wounded Iraqi insurgent was shot and killed.
Hatley, who recently underwent knee surgery, limped to the stand with a cane to give an emotional closing statement earlier Thursday.
The career soldier urged the jury to let him complete six more months of military service, which would have brought his total service to 20 years.
"I've served my country for half my life, which I think is the most honorable profession in the world," he said. "I served America with the best men our great country has to offer. And they are so many. My soldiers are like my sons and there's nothing I wouldn't do for them."
Prosecution lawyer John Riesenberg had argued the case was about how Hatley used his reputation to lead his soldiers "down the brutal path to murder."
"This is among the most colossal failures of leadership," Riesenberg said.
However, defense lawyer David Court said Hatley was not the evil person he was portrayed as being.
"You have to think about what they (these men) were going through (in Iraq) to judge fairly. He loved his soldiers too much, that was his crime," Court said.
The lawyer later voiced disappointment at the sentence.
"I'm disappointed the panel did not see fit to reduce the time of confinement," Court said. "They had the authority to reduce it to a lesser period."
Hatley could yet have his time in prison reduced by the Army's convening authority, a military panel that will review the case and sentence.
Army rulings also go through an automatic appeals process.
Court had argued during the week that the prosecution's case was based on assumptions and conflicting testimony and that there was no solid proof, such as bodies or eyewitness accounts.
However, previous courts-martial related to the incident resulted in murder convictions of two other soldiers who served in Hatley's unit. Some soldiers have admitted to involvement in the killings.
According to testimony this week and at previous courts-martial, the four Iraqis were taken into custody in spring 2007 after an exchange of fire with Hatley's unit.
Some of the soldiers then took the detainees to a nearby canal and shot them in retribution for attacks on the unit and in hopes of avoiding future attacks, according to the testimony.
Let us pray that G-d will avenge this true American hero and other martyrs like him (such as Pvt. Steven Green and his unit), who have figuratively and literally given up their lives to protect their country, by visiting this evil over tenfold on the kangaroo military prosecutor, judge and "jurors" who destroyed this noble soldier. Having to watch their children experience the joys of metastasizing osteosarcoma, before getting it themselves, would be a good way...
SerbAvenger
Topic: Iraq TREASON: Decorated Vet Sentenced to Life in Prison for Killing TERRORISTS (Read 828 times)