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February 21st,
2008 - Winder Soldier Sentenced to 120 Days for Iraqi’s Death News article by the Atlanta
Journal-Constitution News article by the Honolulu
Advertiser |
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Winder Soldier Sentenced to
120 Days for Iraqi’s Death Jury decided soldier was guilty of aggravated assault but not guilty
on murder charge By Moni Basu The Atlanta Journal-Constitution February 21, 2008 Christopher Phillip Shore
spent eight months as an accused murderer. At only 26, he lived with the
possibility of spending the rest of his life behind bars. But through his
"ordeal," the Georgia soldier retained a calm about him. He spoke in pragmatic terms
about his life, his hopes, his dreams and the 15 months he spent at war in
Iraq. Rarely did he publicly
express doubt about himself. "I did not kill that man," he said
repeatedly about the Iraqi man he was accused of shooting. "I am
confident things will turn out well." But on Wednesday, the day
that brought resolution to the uncertainty he had lived with, he told his
lawyer that he was more terrified of entering the courtroom than he was when
he led a charge into a den of known insurgents. He had been scared that warm
June night when his scout platoon blasted their way into a suspicious house
in the northern Iraqi city of Kirkuk. He recalled the rocket launchers, frag
grenades, the smoke, the dust, the confusion. His heart was pumping fierce.
He didn't know if he would make it back out alive. But he knew he would do all
he could to stay alive. He felt a modicum of control. He didn't feel that assurance
earlier this week as he entered the stark cinder-block building that serves
as a courtoom at Honolulu's Wheeler Army Airfield. Shore told his attorney
Michael Waddington: This is the most terrifying thing that has happened in my
life. I have no control over this. Shore's fate rested with
nine of his peers, five enlisted soldiers and four officers. They believed that Shore did
not intend to kill to kill the Iraqi inurgent during the ferocious raid last
June. Waddington convinced them that Shore was ordered to kill the man by his
patrol leader, Sgt. 1st Class Trey Corrales. He argued successfully that
Shore did indeed fire his M-4 Carbine that night but deliberatly missed the
man. Because he had illegally
discharged his weapon, the jury found Shore guilty but of a lesser charge of aggravated
assault. On Wednesday, he was reprimanded, sentenced to 120 days in jail and
reduced two pay grades from a specialist to a private. Waddington called the
sentence "fair." "They convicted him of
what he did and that was discharging his weapon," he said in a phone
interview from Honolulu. "Shore obviously did not want to go to jail but
he was actually pleased with the sentence." He was spared a dishonrable
discharge, which would have effectively ended his military career and tainted
him for life. Waddington was confident Shore would be able to soldier on,
regain his rank and spend a lifetime in the Army, if he wanted to. Shore always said the Army
was his love. The court-martial hasn't soured him yet. Shore and his family were
ultimately relieved. They had gone through a long journey that might have
ended up in a far worse place. The initial premedidated murder charge carried
a maximum penalty of life without parole. "It may have been a
fair sentence but you got to understand something: that's my son," said
an emotional Brian Shore on the phone. "Phil kept reassuring
all of us that it would be OK," he said of the moments after the
sentence was read aloud. "I didn't buy it. I just looked into his eyes.
Sitting in jail for 120 days, well, that's a long time for me." True to form, Shore kept a
straight face throughout the court-martial. He did not take the stand during
the trial but addressed the court in the sentencing phase. He told jurors about how he had
grown into manhood playing in the woods of Walton and Barrow counties, how he
always wanted to be a warrior. He described
matter-of-factly the countless combat missions in Iraq. He broke down only once in
court when he recalled a helicopter crash last August that killed 10 of his
buddies, half the platoon. “I know it's real easy if
you've never been in this situation to Monday quarterback and say what the
law says,'' Shore said. “You don't know until you're there.” He stood straight at
attention, his medals pinned over his left chest, to hear the sentence. His
father thought he saw his son's shoulder droop when the jail time was
announced. Other than that, Shore did not flinch. His wife weeped as she sat
behind him in court. Her relationship with her husband had gone through its
ups and downs but they had decided to make a go of it. She moved to Hawaii just
days before the court-martial and settled into a new home at Schofield
Barracks hoping for a future as bright as the Honolulu sun. But Thursday morning, she
woke to take her two young girls to school by herself. She told them daddy
was on another mission not that he was already in a Navy brig in Pearl
Harbor, starting a lonely confinement. Maj. Gary Johnson, command
judge advocate for the 25th Infantry Division's 3rd Brigade, said Shore would
likely be moved to a more permanent holding facility at Fort Lewis in
Washington, Fort Knox in Kentucky or Fort Sill in Oklahoma. Johnson said Shore will have
an opportunity to make a clemency appeal to have his sentence reduced. In the
Army, Johnson said, the accused "has a second bite at the apple." The current acting division
commander, Brig. Gen. Michael Bednarek will finalize Shore's sentence in the
coming weeks. For Shore's family, simple
flag-waving folks who hail from smalltown Georgia, the notion that the
American military would come after one of their own was alien. From the very beginning,
they stuck by Shore, proclaiming his innocence and hailing his dedication as
a soldier. They believed the Army was
driven to prosecute him for political reasons maybe America had to prove its
morality to the Iraqis. "To get him on a murder
charge in the middle of a combat session, that's not right," Brian Shore
said. "I don't understand any of this. I'm still angry at the
Army." Waddington has defended
soldiers in about a 100 courts-martial. Some he's won; some he's lost. He
moves on. But this case, he said, was
personal. Shore was the affable
hometown boy for Waddington, who lives and practices in Augusta. He thought
the Army had been unfair to his client from the moment that Shore reported
the events of that fateful June night. Waddington criticized the
Army investigation as "sloppy." He said the Army possessed nor
presented any physical evidence to warrant a murder charge. Waddington felt vindicated
when an investigating officer agreed the Army lacked evidence linking Shore
to the Iraqi man's killing. But the commander of the 25th Infantry Division
did not abide by the report issued after an Article 32 hearing, the
military's equivalent of a grand jury investigation. Instead, Maj. Gen. Benjamin
Mixon, in one of his last acts as division commander, referred Shore's case
to trial for murder. "That's not how you treat
a soldier," Waddington said. "You don't go forward with a man who
just served 15 months in combat. "My children are in
Georgia sleeping safely in their beds. They are able to do it because of men
like Phil Shore." External link: http://www.ajc.com/health/content/metro/stories/2008/02/20/Soldier_CourtMartial_A0822.html Sentencing set for convicted
Schofield soldier By the Honolulu Advertiser February 21, 2008 A Schofield Barracks soldier
convicted of aggravated assault in the killing of an unarmed Iraqi detainee
has been sentenced to 120 days confinement, reprimanded and reduced in rank,
officials said. Spc. Christopher Shore, 26,
will begin serving his sentence immediately. A panel of four officers and
five senior enlisted soldiers judged Shore at his court-martial and
determined the sentence yesterday night. The maximum punishment for
aggravated assault under the Uniform Code of Military Justice is eight years
confinement. The jury found Shore, of
Winder, Ga., not guilty of third-degree murder in the June 23, 2007 killing
of an unidentified Iraqi man in the village of al Saheed outside Kirkuk. Shore, of Winder, Ga., had
blamed the killing on his platoon leader, Sgt. 1st Class Trey Corrales, who
is to go on trial on a premeditated murder charge on April 22. Soldiers testified that
Corrales marched the unarmed man out of a house after a raid, tried to get
him to take an AK-47 rifle, and then told the man to run. One soldier said he saw
Corrales raise his M-4 rifle at the man, and as the soldier turned away, not
wanting to see what came next, he heard a succession of shots. Corrales is accused of
ordering Shore to "finish" him. Corrales, 35, of San
Antonio, is charged with premeditated murder, wrongfully soliciting another
soldier to shoot the Iraqi, and wrongfully impeding the investigation by
having an AK-47 rifle planted near the victim. At an Article 32 hearing,
which is similar to a civilian preliminary hearing, Shore said he was afraid
of what Corrales might do to him as Shore was ordered to shoot the wounded
Iraqi on the ground. Instead of carrying out the
order, Shore said he fired two shots next to the detainee's head. Testimony from
fellow soldiers conflicted as to whether Shore told them after the incident
that he shot at or near the Iraqi man. Although Shore may not have
wanted to hurt the victim, a prosecutor said the decision to fire two shots
at him was itself illegal. Both Shore and Corrales are
with the 2nd Battalion, 35th Infantry Regiment. External link: http://tinyurl.com/3d9rpe Army jury convicts island
soldier of assault in death of Iraqi civilian By Gregg K. Kakesako Honolulu Star Bulletin February 21, 2008 A 26-year-old Schofield
Barracks soldier was convicted yesterday of assault after being cleared of
murdering a 28-year-old unarmed, wounded Iraqi civilian last summer. Spc. Christopher Shore of
Winder, Ga., was sentenced to 120 days in jail, will receive an official
reprimand, and will be demoted to private. Derrick Sparks, Shore's half
brother, said the conviction on a lesser charge was "an answer to our
prayers. We spent a long time praying. A lot of people prayed for my brother,
and I want to tell everybody thank you. ... I knew my brother was
innocent." The verdict, by the jury of
five enlisted soldiers and four officers, came after four hours of
deliberation. Shore showed little emotion when the verdict was read, but once
the court-martial went into a recess, he hugged his father, Brian; his wife,
Katherin; and Sparks in the hallway outside of the courtroom. During the sentencing phase
of his court-martial, Shore cried when asked by his attorney Michael Waddington
to describe his relations with members of his scout platoon. Shore recalled that nearly
half his platoon of 26 did not survive the 15-month Iraq deployment that
ended in October. Ten soldiers died Aug. 22 when their Black Hawk helicopter
crashed returning to base. He initially had been
charged with premeditated murder. He said he had been only following the
orders of his platoon leader, Sgt. 1st Class Trey Corrales, during an early
morning raid June 23 near Kirkuk. Corrales is charged with premeditated
murder and will be tried starting April 22. An investigative officer,
following an Article 32 hearing in October, recommended that Shore be charged
with aggravated assault. However, Lt. Gen. Benjamin Mixon, in one of his last
actions as commanding general of the 25th Infantry Division, sent the matter
to a court-martial with the manslaughter charge. Army prosecutors maintained
that Shore could have avoided firing his rifle by leaving the scene as other
members of his platoon did. Army prosecutor Capt. James
Leary said Shore's decision to fire two shots at the victim was itself
illegal. Throughout the
investigation, subsequent hearings and this week's court-martial, both sides
did not dispute that Corrales shot the Iraqi. But there was conflicting
testimony on whether Shore fired any shots at the victim. Waddington said
Shore deliberately aimed away from the Iraqi's body. Waddington repeatedly argued
during the two-day court-martial that there was not enough forensic evidence to
prove that bullets from Shore's M-4 carbine killed the Iraqi. He described
the investigation as "sloppy," saying investigators initially went
to the wrong house and excavated the wrong yard. Waddington, in closing
arguments, said Shore also was under duress because he feared his platoon
leader, Corrales. Yesterday, Waddington read
into the court record the written statement of Essa Ahmed, the unit's
interpreter, who said he was asked by Corrales to translate the word
"run" in Arabic, which Corrales used several times in instructing
the victim. After hearing four shots,
Ahmed said he heard Corrales tell his soldiers, "I killed that
mother----." An autopsy later revealed
the Iraqi was shot five times in the head, left and right arms, and back. External link: http://starbulletin.com/2008/02/21/news/story04.html |