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October 17th,
2007 - Hawaii-Based Soldiers Face Hearings for Iraqi Murder Charge News
article by the Associated Press |
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Hawaii-Based Soldiers Face Hearings
for Iraqi Murder Charge By Audrey McAvoy Associated Press October 17, 2007 Honolulu - Charges are to be
heard starting Thursday against an Army sergeant from Texas and a soldier
from Georgia accused of killing an Iraqi civilian. The Army's charges allege
the soldiers shot the victim several times when their platoon entered a house
near Kirkuk in northern Iraq to search for insurgents. Sgt. 1st Class Trey A.
Corrales, of San Antonio, after allegedly shooting the man himself, is
accused of ordering Spc. Christopher P. Shore of Winder, Ga., to shoot the
man again. The Iraqi died two days later. Both men deny the
premeditated murder charges in the June 23 incident. Shore has said he was
ordered to shoot the man, who is described in an announcement of the hearings
only as "a Middle Eastern detainee," but intentionally missed. A Website set up to support
Corrales decries what it says is the second-guessing of wartime acts. It
describes him as a highly decorated soldier who has helped defend the country
for 13 years and appeals to "every red-blooded American" to support
his defense. After separate Article 32
hearings for Corrales and Shore, expected to take a total of at least four
days, their commanding general will decide whether they should be court
martialed for the murder. Both Corrales and Shore
recently returned to the islands after spending more than a year in Iraq with
their unit, the Headquarters and Headquarters Company, 2nd Battalion, 35th
Infantry Regiment. The case is the latest of
several in which U.S. troops have been accused of murdering Iraqi civilians. Last month, a U.S. military
panel in Baghdad acquitted an Army sniper of murder in the death of two Iraqi
civilians. But the panel did sentence him to five months in prison, a
reduction in rank and forfeiture of pay for planting evidence in connection
with the deaths. Two other soldiers face charges in the case. Prosecutors have had trouble
obtaining convictions in some cases. Eight Marines were charged
in the killing of an Iraqi man last year in Hamdania but only one was
convicted. Seven Marines have also been
accused in the killings of 24 civilians in Haditha, but prosecutors have yet
to secure any convictions. Shore is expected to have
his case heard first, on Thursday, in an Article 32 investigation similar to
a grand jury hearing. Unlike civilian proceedings,
however, he has the right to attend and may have his lawyer present. The
hearing, similar to a civilian preliminary hearing, also is open to the
media. Shore wrote the Atlanta
Journal-Constitution an e-mail in August saying Corrales, while leading a
patrol, ordered him and his fellow soldiers to "kill all the males"
in a house where some insurgents had allegedly trapped some soldiers. Shore said he ran toward the
sound of shots fired to find Corrales standing over a badly injured man on
the ground at the backdoor of the house. Shore said Corrales ordered him to
"finish him." Shore fired his gun, but purposely missed the man, he
said. Michael Waddington, Shore's
lawyer, could not be reached for comment in time for deadline. Corrales' attorney, Frank
Spinner, did not respond to e-mail and telephone messages requesting comment
on the case. His parents, Albert Corrales Sr. and Evageline Corrales,
declined to comment, saying they were advised not to talk to the media.
Corrales' hearing is scheduled to start Monday. Spinner told the San Antonio
Express-News in July he was not fazed by the charges. He said the Army often
"overcharges" defendants to scare them into a plea bargain. Some soldiers in the platoon
expected to testify were killed when their Black Hawk helicopter went down in
northern Iraq on Aug. 22. Fourteen soldiers were killed in the crash,
including 10 based in Hawaii. It is not clear, however, how their deaths will
affect the case. David Glazier, associate
professor at Loyola Law School-Los Angeles, said U.S. troops in Iraq are in a
difficult position because they aren't facing a uniformed adversary and must
look at every civilian as a potential threat. "How do they know which
civilian is the innocent worker or farmer and which one is the suicide
bomber?" Glazier said. Under international law,
Glazier said, a civilian that takes up arms against the military is liable to
be shot if he or she is hostile or threatening to attack. But the individual
is not a legitimate target if he or she is not hostile or resisting, he said. Maj. Gen. Benjamin Mixon,
who commands the 25th Infantry Division, will decide whether Shore and
Corrales should be tried. He'll consult the recommendation of the officer
presiding over the investigative hearings while making his decision. The Army relieved the
battalion's commander, Lt. Col. Michael Browder, of his command after the
incident, citing a lack of confidence in his leadership. Browder, however, is
not a suspect and has not been charged. © 2007 The Associated Press External link: http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/ap/tx/5221550.html Winder soldier faces
military hearing Thursday By Moni Basu The Atlanta Journal-Constitution October 17, 2007 Honolulu - The young soldier
from Winder came to meet the young lawyer from Augusta at the Honolulu
airport. The two had never laid eyes on
each other before. Yet, Spc. Christopher P. Shore now is staking his whole
life on Michael Waddington. "I'm tall with blond
hair," Waddington said on his cellphone Tuesday as he approached the
baggage claim area. "I'm wearing a white shirt and khakis." Shore, 25, looked relaxed in
a T-shirt and shorts. He was glad to be back in America after 15 months in
Iraq - even though he returned as an accused murderer. "The only thing I'm
remotely concerned about is that all this be over with," Shore said. The Army begins Article 32
hearings Thursday on whether to press ahead with accusations of premeditated
murder against Shore and Sgt. 1st Class Trey A. Corrales of San Antonio,
Texas, soldiers in the Hawaii-based 25th Infantry Division. The Army alleges that
Corrales shot an Iraqi detainee and then ordered Shore to shoot him again.
Both soldiers have maintained their innocence. Shore has said that Corrales
ordered him to "finish" the Iraqi man but that he deliberately
pointed his rifle away when he fired. Shore said that he was one
of four soldiers in his platoon who reported the incident to company
commanders. Waddington, who practices
law in Augusta, flew to Honolulu on Tuesday with a stack of evidence and
photographs from the Army's investigation into the events of a June 23
nighttime raid in the northern Iraqi city of Kirkuk. He said he was confident of
a positive outcome of the hearings. Shore said he wasn't nervous
about Thursday's proceedings, the military's equivalent of a grand jury
investigation. He said he was looking forward to a 30-day post-deployment
leave the Army owes him and plans to spend time with friends and family in
Georgia. But on Thursday the graduate
of Winder-Barrow High School will be standing under fluorescent lights in a
wood-paneled military courtroom at Wheeler Army Airfield in Honolulu, with
Waddington and a military lawyer by his side. His hearing is expected to last
two days. About 25 witnesses have been
called to testify, including an Iraqi translator who was working with Shore's
unit the night of the killing, Waddington said. He will testify via video
from Iraq. Several soldiers who were
supposed to testify in this case died in Iraq in an August Black Hawk
helicopter crash; one was Shore's former bunkmate, Waddington said. He did
not specify how that would affect the case. Corrales' hearing will be
held separately starting Monday. Maj. Gen. Benjamin Mixon,
commander of the 25th Infantry Division, will decide, as early as next week,
whether both soldiers should be court-martialed. Shore and Corrales are among
a number of American soldiers who have recently been accused of killing
Iraqis outside the rules of engagement. If convicted, Shore could
face the death penalty. External link: http://www.ajc.com/metro/content/metro/stories/2007/10/17/shore_1017.html |