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The War Profiteers - War Crimes,
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March 30th,
2009 - US Soldier Gets 35 Years in Deaths of 4 Iraqis News article from Associated
Press News article from Agence France
Presse |
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US Soldier
Gets 35 Years in Deaths of 4 Iraqis By George Frey Associated Press March 30, 2009 Vilseck, Germany - A second
U.S. soldier was convicted Monday of murder in the execution-style slayings
of four bound and blindfolded Iraqi detainees in 2007 and sentenced to 35 years
in prison after he pleaded guilty at his court-martial. Wearing his dress uniform
and speaking crispy and confidently, Sgt. 1st Class Joseph Mayo of Fort
Bragg, North Carolina, pleaded guilty to charges of premeditated murder and
conspiracy to commit premeditated murder at the proceeding at the U.S. Army's
Rose Barracks in southern Germany. He pleaded not guilty to a
charge of obstruction of justice in the incident, which occurred while he was
deployed to Iraq. Military prosecutors dropped that charge. The 27-year-old was
sentenced to 35 years in prison and will be incarcerated at the military
prison in Fort Leavenworth, Kansas. He will also be dishonorably discharged.
His lawyer, Michael Waddington, said Mayo would be eligible for parole in
about 10 years. Col. Jeffrey Nance, the
judge overseeing the proceedings, told Mayo that he "entered into an
agreement to commit premeditated murder" that saw the four Iraqi men
shot in the head by the side of a canal in Baghdad between March and April
2007. In February a military court
convicted Sgt. Michael Leahy, 28, of Lockport, Ill., to life in prison with
the possibility of parole after he admitted to the execution-style killing of
one of the detainees and shooting another. He was acquitted of murder over a
separate incident in Baghdad in January 2007. According to testimony at
previous courts-martial, at least four Iraqis were taken into custody in
spring 2007 after a shootout with a patrol. The Iraqis were taken to the
U.S. unit's operating base in Baghdad for questioning and processing,
although there was not enough evidence to hold them for attacking the unit.
Later that night patrol members took the Iraqis to a remote area and shot
them in retribution for the attacks on the unit, according to testimony. Mayo, Leahy and Master Sgt.
John Hatley, 40, are accused of pulling the trigger. "Hatley stated that if
we took (the) individuals to detention they'd be released in a matter of
days," Mayo told the court. "He said we should take care of them. I
agreed." Mayo has been in the Army
for nearly a decade. All were with the 1st
Battalion, 18th Infantry Regiment, 2nd Brigade, 1st Infantry Division. The
unit is now part of the Germany-based 172nd Infantry Brigade. Hatley's court-martial on charges
of premeditated murder, conspiracy to commit premeditated murder and
obstruction of justice is scheduled for April. Waddington said that under a
deal reached with prosecutors, Mayo will testify at Hatley's court-martial
next month. The Army has also not
released a hometown for Hatley. Hatley also faces murder charges from the
separate incident in Baghdad. Two soldiers - Spc. Steven
Ribordy, 26, of Salina, Kansas, and Spc. Belmor Ramos, 24, of Clearfield,
Utah - pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit premeditated murder and were
sentenced to prison last year. Staff Sgt. Jess Cunningham,
29, of Bakersfield, California, and Sgt. Charles Quigley, 28, of Providence,
Rhode Island, had charges of conspiracy to commit premeditated murder dropped
this year. It is unclear whether they will testify in the upcoming
courts-martial. Copyright © 2009 The
Associated Press. External link: http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5hYtcV7GUHRC88uGXnQ8Hl6I5lvbAD978E4LO0 US sergeant
jailed for murdering prisoners in Iraq From Agence France Presse March 30, 2009 Vilseck, Germany - A US
sergeant on Monday became on Monday the second non-commissioned officer to be
convicted of murder for the summary executions of four bound and blindfolded
prisoners in Iraq in 2007. Sergeant First Class Joseph
P. Mayo was sentenced by a court martial in southern Germany to life in prison,
but because he pleaded guilty, will serve no more than 35 years in prison and
will be eligible for parole in 10 years. Mayo told a court martial
that he and two other sergeants shot the prisoners in the back of the head
with nine-millimetre pistols and dumped their bodies in a Baghdad canal. "I thought it was in
the best interests of my soldiers," Mayo, 27, told the court in the town
of Vilseck after pleading guilty to murder and conspiracy to commit murder. Mayo was able to escape a
life sentence after a pre-trial agreement with the commander of his unit, an
army spokesman said. "I really believed I
was protecting my soldiers," Mayo repeated in a closing statement that
brought him and family members including his mother, wife and 10-year-old daughter
to tears. "I take full
responsibility for my actions," he said. "Now I have to pay for my
mistake." Mayo said the men, "of
apparent Middle Eastern descent," according to the charge sheet, had
been arrested after repeated attacks on their unit, including a sniper attack
that killed a friend and fellow sergeant. The defendant himself had
been almost killed by an explosive device a few months earlier, and suffered
a diagnosed mild traumatic brain injury, his lawyer Michael Waddington said. While making their arrests,
the US troops found two sniper rifles, AK-47 assault rifles and a duffel bag
full of ammunition. But there was insufficient evidence to hold the men,
Waddington told the court, and Mayo said: "I believed they would be
released." Mayo is one seven soldiers
implicated in the case and one of three non-commissioned officers to be tried
for murder. First Sergeant John E.
Hatley, the most senior soldier present, is to stand trial charged with
murder in Germany on April 13, an army statement said last week. A spokesman
said Monday that Mayo would testify in that trial. In February, co-defendant
Sergeant Michael P. Leahy, an army medic, was sentenced to life in prison
with the possibility of parole. Two other soldiers have
pleaded guilty to lesser charges and been sentenced to prison terms of less
than a year, an army spokeswoman said. Charges were dismissed
against two others, including Staff Sergeant Jess Cunningham, who first
revealed the incident to a defence lawyer in January 2008. Waddington told reporters
after Mayo's trial had adjourned: "Our objective is to get him out of
prison as quickly as possible." All the soldiers were with
the 1st Battalion, 18th Infantry Regiment, then part of the 2nd Brigade of
the 1st Infantry Division in Iraq, and now in the 172nd Infantry Brigade
based in Germany. A character witness in the
trial, First Lieutenant Benjamin Boyd, said the troops had been at a combat
outpost dubbed "Angry Dragon" in southwest Baghdad that was on a
"significant fault line" between Sunni and Shia areas of the city. "I hold fewer people in
higher regard," Boyd said of the defendant. "I couldn't have asked
for a better platoon sergeant." Another witness, Captain
David Nelson-Fischer said the unit suffered from "frustration and
fear" because of a high frequency of attacks on Mayo's small, highly
exposed post in West Rashid, one of the most dangerous Baghdad neighbourhoods
at that time. The US troops were "not
adequately trained", and angry that prisoners were often released after
two or three days in custody, only to carry out further attacks and armed
with fresh intelligence on US operating methods. But the army's trial
counsel, Captain John Riesenberg, said Mayo had "demonstrated a total
lack of moral courage," in shooting a prisoner "execution
style." He had urged the court
martial judge, Colonel Jeffrey Nance, to deliver a sentence that would
"send a message to the army and to the world." The US army, Riesenberg
said, "is an army that punishes its own." Copyright © 2009 AFP. All
rights reserved. External link: http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5jKLrttKdP7fW7IJqvSPqZdBss0ww Servicemember gets 35 years
in detainee deaths By Seth Robson Stars and Stripes March 30, 2009 Vilseck, Germany - A 172nd
Infantry Brigade soldier was sentenced to 35 years’ confinement at a
court-martial Monday after he pleaded guilty to the murder of four Iraqi
detainees, whose bodies were dumped in a Baghdad canal in 2007. Sgt. 1st Class Joseph P.
Mayo, 27, who waived his right to a jury trial and elected to be tried by a
military judge alone, admitted in court to shooting one of the four men in
March or April 2007. Mayo and two other former
members of Company A, 1st Battalion, 18th Infantry Regiment - Sgt. Michael
Leahy Jr., 28, and Master Sgt. John Hatley, 40 - were accused of shooting the
detainees after capturing them with a large cache of weapons and ammunition. Mayo pleaded guilty to
premeditated murder and conspiracy to commit premeditated murder. The judge
sentenced him to life in prison with the possibility of parole, reduction to
private and a dishonorable discharge. However, the sentence was reduced to 35
years’ confinement under a pretrial agreement that will see him testify at
Hatley’s murder trial in April. Mayo’s attorney said the pretrial agreement
allows for parole after 10 years. Last month Leahy, who
confessed during a Criminal Investigation Command interrogation to shooting
two of the detainees, was found guilty of premeditated murder and conspiracy
to commit premeditated murder. He was sentenced to life in prison with the
possibility of parole. Asked by the judge, Col.
Jeffrey Nance, to explain his guilty plea, Mayo said the plot to kill the
detainees was hatched by Hatley after the Iraqis were caught in a house with
a large bag of ammunition and sniper rifles hidden nearby. The detainees were zip-tied,
blindfolded and taken back to a combat outpost in the back of a Bradley
fighting vehicle. When they got to the COP, Hatley said he believed that the
detainees would soon be back on the streets if they were taken to a detainee
holding facility, Mayo said. “He felt that we should take
care of them and I agreed. I had no issues,” he said. The detainees were driven to
an isolated canal where Hatley asked several members of Company A if they
wanted to help kill them, Mayo said. “Myself and Sgt. Leahy
agreed to help,” he said. The trio removed the
detainees from the Bradley and lined them up on the canal bank, he said. “First Sgt. Hatley asked us
if we were OK. We replied, ‘Yes,’ and then the first shot was fired. After
the first sergeant and Leahy fired, I shot,” said Mayo, adding that the three
then pushed the detainees’ bodies into the canal. During the sentencing phase
of the trial several soldiers who served with Mayo in Iraq testified about
his heroism, love of the Army, skill as a noncommissioned officer and care
for his soldiers. First Lt. Benjamin Boyd, who
served as his platoon leader in Iraq, described him as showing “... the kind
of quiet professionalism that the Army so often promotes as a desirable
leadership quality.” He added: “I hold few people
in higher regard, not only as a person but as a military combat leader.” Mayo’s mother, Deborah Mayo,
of Fayetteville, N.C., and his wife, Joanna Mayo, of Schweinfurt, Germany,
gave tearful testimony about the impact that their son and husband’s
incarceration will likely have on his three children, ages 10, 6 and 8
months. Joanna Mayo told the court
that she suffers from an eye disease that limits her vision and prevents her
from driving or reading. Mayo’s 6-year-old son also
suffers from medical problems and will require multiple surgeries in the next
few years to straighten his back and allow his lungs to grow properly, she
said. In an unsworn statement Mayo
apologized for his actions. “I was the leader
responsible for doing the right things even when it didn’t seem consistent
with protecting the lives of my soldiers. I believed those four men were
insurgents who were determined to kill and that they would be released if we
took them to the detainee holding area,” he said. In closing arguments,
government prosecutor Capt. John Reisenberg told the court that Mayo’s
sentence should deter others from making the same mistakes he had made. “These facts have confronted
American soldiers in past wars, they confront American soldiers in this war
and they will confront them in future,” he said. “When soldiers like the
accused are confronted with difficult moral dilemmas, that requires moral
courage. The accused demonstrated a total lack of moral courage.” Mayo’s lawyer, Michael
Waddington, urged the court not to dismiss his client from the Army,
something that would prevent him from getting veterans assistance to deal
with Traumatic Brain Injury and post-traumatic stress disorder suffered
during two deployments to Iraq and one to Afghanistan. External link: http://www.stripes.com/article.asp?section=104&article=61700 |