|
The War Profiteers - War Crimes,
Kidnappings, Torture and Big Money |
|
January 19th,
2007 - Cortez Still Faces Murder Charges |
|
Cortez Still Faces Murder Charges Desert Dispatch Friday, January 19, 2007 Barstow - Despite a plea
agreement in the case of Sgt. Paul E. Cortez, 24, the Barstow native still
faces charges of premeditated murder for the March 12 raping and killing and
of 14-year-old Iraqi girl and the killing of her father, mother and sister in
a village south of Baghdad. Cortez's lawyer, William
Cassara, said Cortez pleaded guilty to rape and felony murder charges in the
plea agreement reached with the military but not to premeditated murder. The
government will attempt to prove Cortez guilty of premeditated murder in his
trial scheduled for Feb. 20, Cassara said. During part of Cortez's
trial, the government will have the opportunity to argue Cortez's guilt in
the charges to which he has not pleaded guilty. At his November arraignment,
the government charged Cortez with premeditated murder, felony murder,
kidnapping, rape and assorted military charges. "Our strategy is going
to be to show that the government can't prove him guilty," Cassara said. Both the government and the
defense can call witnesses. Cassara does not know what witnesses will be
called on either side. According to William Bruzzo,
a former major in the Marine Corps and civilian and military criminal defense
lawyer in Santa Ana, intent is the main difference between premeditated
murder and felony murder in military courts. "Premeditated murder is
that you meant to kill the person and that was the main goal," he said.
"In felony murder, you really wanted to do something else and you killed
the person." A person can be charged with
felony murder, Bruzzo said, if someone dies during or as a result of
burglary, sodomy, rape, robbery or aggravated arson. Premeditated murder is a
harsher crime, he said; however, both carry the same maximum sentence of life
in prison without parole or the death penalty. As part of the Cortez's plea
agreement accepted by the government, Cortez does not face the death penalty. The Feb. 20 trial will also
give the government and the defense a chance to argue the terms of Cortez's
punishment. Maj. Sgt. Terry Webster, a public affairs officer with the 101st
Airborne Division at Fort Campbell, Ky., said the defense can present
witnesses for the defendant in an attempt to mitigate the sentence. Cassara
said he intends to call character witnesses - family members and co-workers -
to show Cortez as a decent man. He will also call mental health experts to
testify about the stress Cortez was under due to combat. Cassara said he would know
what witnesses the government would call to substantiate a harsh sentence
within a couple of days. One witness the government could call is Pfc. James
P. Barker, 23. Barker's attor ney, David
Sheldon, said as part of his client's plea, he agreed to testify against all
the co-conspirators in the case. Sheldon did not know if the government
planned to have Barker testify in Cortez's trial, but he has been asked to
testify in all the cases. "If the government
wants him to testify, then that's part of his deal, and he has to tes-
tify," Webster said. Four soldiers, Cortez,
Barker, Pfc. Jesse V. Spielman, 22, and Pfc. Bryan L. Howard, 23, and one
former Army private Steven D. Green, 21, were charged in the case. Green
faces charges in a civilian court in Kentucky. External link: http://www.desertdispatch.com/2006/116921978552516.html |