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The War Profiteers - War Crimes,
Kidnappings & Torture |
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April 16th,
2009 - US Army Soldier Sentenced to Life in Prison News article from the Associated
Press News article from Agence France
Presse |
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US Army
Soldier Sentenced to Life in Prison By George Frey Associated Press April 16, 2009 Vilseck, Germany - A U.S.
Army soldier convicted of murder in the 2007 killings of four bound and
blindfolded Iraqis was sentenced on Thursday to life in prison. Master Sgt. John Hatley, 40,
also will have his rank reduced to private, forfeit all pay and receive a
dishonorable discharge, a jury of eight Army officers and noncommissioned
officers decided. He has the possibility of parole after serving 20 years. The sentence came a day
after Hatley was found guilty of premeditated murder and conspiracy in the
execution-style killings of the detainees. He was found not guilty of
premeditated murder in a separate January 2007 incident in which a wounded
Iraqi insurgent was shot and killed. In an emotional closing
statement earlier Thursday, the career soldier urged the jury to let him
complete 20 years of military service. Hatley, who recently
underwent knee surgery, limped to the stand to urge the panel to grant him
six more months of service so that he could reach the milestone. "I've served my country
for half my life, which I think is the most honorable profession in the
world," he said. "I served America with the best men our great
country has to offer. And they are so many. My soldiers are like my sons and
there's nothing I wouldn't do for them." Prosecution lawyer John
Riesenberg had argued the case was about how Hatley used his reputation to
lead his soldiers down "the brutal path to murder." "This is among the most
colossal failures of leadership," Riesenberg said. Defense lawyer David
Court said Hatley was not the evil person the defense was portraying him to
be. "You have to think
about what they (these men) were going through (in Iraq) to judge fairly. He
loved his soldiers too much, that was his crime," Court said. According to testimony this
week and at previous courts-martial, four Iraqis were taken into custody in
spring 2007 after an exchange of fire with Hatley's unit. Court has argued that Army
prosecutors based their case on assumptions and conflicting testimony from
this week and other courts-martial, saying there was no physical evidence
that anyone was shot or killed. The bodies of the victims have never been
found. Previous courts-martial
related to the incident resulted in murder convictions of two other soldiers
who served in Hatley's unit. Copyright © 2009 The
Associated Press. External link: http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5hYtcV7GUHRC88uGXnQ8Hl6I5lvbAD97JK7EG0 US soldier
gets life for murder of prisoners From Agence France Presse April 16, 2009 Vilseck, Germany - A senior
US soldier was jailed for life Thursday for the murder of four bound and
blindfolded prisoners in Iraq, a court martial here said. US Master Sergeant John E.
Hatley was also found guilty Wednesday of conspiracy to kill the unidentified
detainees, but was acquitted of a fifth charge of premeditated murder and of
obstruction of justice. He will be eligible for
parole in 20 years, Hatley's defence lawyer David Court said Thursday. During the sentencing
hearing, 40-year-old Hatley told an eight-man army panel that he respected
their findings but recounted the stress of dealing with mounting American
casualties at the hands of insurgents. "I understand your
decision," he said. "I'm not perfect, I
ain't no angel" the sergeant said, fighting back tears as he spoke of
cleaning or "policing up the pieces of our soldiers" and friends
following bomb and sniper attacks. Court said Hatley had taken the
sentence "stoically." The defendant had expressed
no emotion when the verdict was announced late Wednesday, but embraced his
wife and fellow soldiers and friends who had stood by him during the four-day
trial. Hatley had been accused of
shooting prisoners in two separate incidents but was declared not guilty of
the January 2007 death of a detainee who was already seriously wounded. The second shooting - of
four blindfolded prisoners - took place in late March in or near southwest
Baghdad. Hatley was the highest
ranking of three soldiers tried for killing the prisoners, who were shot
"execution style," according to army prosecutors. The bodies, which witnesses
said were dumped into a canal, were never found. The trial was held near this
southeastern German town because Hatley's unit has redeployed to Germany. Copyright © 2009 AFP. All
rights reserved. External link: http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5huQ676UmH_KdwdGz2Gztj-7YqarA
GI convicted of murder in
Iraqis’ deaths By Seth Robson Stars and Stripes April 16, 2009 Vilseck, Germany - A 172nd
Infantry Brigade non-commissioned officer was found guilty at a court-martial
here Wednesday of murdering four bound and blindfolded Iraqi detainees and
dumping their bodies in a Baghdad canal. Master Sgt. John Hatley, 40,
had pleaded not guilty to premeditated murder in the killing of the detainees
in March or April 2007. A jury of fellow soldiers
took almost four hours to find him guilty of murder and of conspiring with
other soldiers from Company A, 1st Battalion, 18th Infantry Regiment to kill
the four men, who were detained with a large cache of weapons after a patrol
came under fire. The maximum sentence Hatley
could face is life in prison without parole. The mandatory minimum sentence
for premeditated murder under the Uniform Code of Military Justice is life in
prison with the possibility of parole. The jury found Hatley not
guilty of murdering a wounded detainee, who, witnesses claimed, he shot on a
Baghdad street in January 2007. Hatley was also acquitted of
trying to cover up the canal killings by allegedly ordering two soldiers to
clean blood from the troop compartment of a Bradley fighting vehicle and burn
zip ties and blindfolds used on the four victims. During closing arguments
government trial counsel Capt. Derrick Grace told the jury that it should
believe other members of Hatley’s former unit - Company A - who testified
that he shot the detainees. Grace referred to key
evidence given by Sgt. 1st Class Joseph P. Mayo, 27, and Sgt. Michael Leahy
Jr., 28, who told the jury that Hatley killed detainees. Both admitted to
also killing detainees at the canal and both received lengthy prison
sentences after being convicted of murder earlier this year. However, Hatley’s civilian
lawyer, David Court, attacked the credibility of the prosecution witnesses,
several of whom gave conflicting versions of events or told different stories
in court than they told Army investigators. "It is critical that we
determine which testimony is credible beyond reasonable doubt," Court
said, adding that many prosecution witnesses cut deals with the government to
escape punishment for involvement in the killings in exchange for their
testimony. Court had tried to persuade
the jury that Mayo and Leahy’s testimony could be motivated by a desire to
appear less culpable in the killings. "The defense wants you
to believe that everybody is lying," Grace said, adding that it was
unreasonable to believe that all of the Company A soldiers who testified
would lie to pin the blame for the killings on Hatley. Court told the jury to take
account of the many witnesses, including an Iraqi interpreter, who gave
evidence of Hatley’s good character and record of respectful treatment of
Iraqis. However, Grace said evidence
that Hatley was a good soldier did not work as a defense to murder. "[Hatley] made choices
he wasn’t entitled to make. He took lives he wasn’t entitled to take,"
Grace said. "The crimes are among the worst that can be committed by a
professional soldier. The accused became judge, jury and executioner." Some of the alleged victims
at the canal, who were detained with a large cache of weapons, were probably
"bad guys" but that did not absolve Hatley from his crimes, Grace
said. "It was his duty to
care for the wounded detainee (who was allegedly killed in January). It was his
duty to either process or let them (the other four detainees) go. Execution
is still murder," he said. Court told the jury that,
even if they believed that Hatley, Mayo and Leahy fired at the back of the
detainees’ heads at the canal, there is no proof that any of them died, since
the government has not found bodies or forensic evidence despite an extensive
search in Iraq. Grace countered:
"Hatley was a division master gunner. Can you believe that he and the
others, who he trained, missed their targets from a few inches away? There is
no doubt that these four men are dead. They are not walking around Iraq
somewhere with big holes in the backs of their heads." The jury was due to hear
arguments with regard to sentencing on Thursday. External link: http://www.stripes.com/article.asp?section=104&article=62067 |