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The War Profiteers - War Crimes,
Kidnappings & Torture |
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March 28th,
2009 - Parents of Edmond Soldier Maintain His Innocence |
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Parents of Edmond
Soldier Maintain His Innocence From the Associated Press March 28, 2009 Oklahoma City - The parents
of an Army officer from Edmond convicted of killing an Iraqi detainee
maintain their son acted in self-defense and said they plan to help him
pursue an appeal. First Lt. Michael Behenna
was convicted of murder last month in the shooting death of the detainee, Ali
Mansour, he took aside for questioning last May. A military panel of seven
officers at Fort Campbell, Ky., also found him guilty of assault but
acquitted him of making a false statement. Behenna, 25, also avoided conviction
on the more serious charge of premediated murder. Military officials say the
judge in the case, Col. Theodore Dixon, will recommend Behenna serve no more
than 18 years. Behenna’s attorneys will
appeal his conviction, but he remains in a federal prison in Kansas. “To me, it’s a travesty,”
Behenna’s father, Scott, told The Oklahoman. Scott Behenna is a retired
Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation agent who now works as an FBI
intelligence analyst. Behenna’s mother, Vicki, is a veteran federal
prosecutor who helped convict Oklahoma City bomber Timothy McVeigh. Vicki Behenna understands
some people may be offended by her son’s actions, but told The Oklahoman he
was doing what he thought was necessary to protect his 18-man platoon. Two of the men under his
command were killed and two more were injured in an April 21 bomb blast. The
explosion also killed two Iraqis. Intelligence reports
indicated Mansour was a member of an al-Qaida cell operating in the area.
Behenna’s platoon arrested him May 5. Mansour was released by Army
Intelligence less than two weeks later. Behenna was ordered to
return Mansour to his home, but he chose to question the man himself. He
wanted to find out who else was in the terror cell and who was financing it. Behenna took Mansour and an
interpreter into a culvert near an Iraq army checkpoint for his
interrogation. Behenna said he shot Mansour
in self-defense because Mansour was advancing toward him with his arms
raised. Prosecutors accused Behenna
of executing Mansour as he was seated on a rock, although the physical
evidence didn’t support that assertion, his supporters said. “You can’t make
misrepresentations like that to the jury,” Vicki Behenna said. She said a government
expert, Herbert MacDonell, offered the same explanation to prosecutors after
viewing the evidence, but the judge ruled his testimony likely wouldn’t have
changed the outcome of the trial. Vicki Behenna said
MacDonell’s expert evidence was not provided to her son’s defense team, which
should have resulted in a mistrial. “Maybe he made some bad
choices, but I think it’s the result of the acute stress disorder that he was
operating under,” Vicki Behenna said of her son. “I wish the jury had
considered that more.” External link: http://www.armytimes.com/news/2009/03/ap_behenna_parents_innocence_032809/ |