Print

Mail

wiki links

Panel acquits US Army specialist of Iraqi killings

A military panel yesterday acquitted US Army Specialist Jorge Sandoval of charges he killed two unarmed Iraqis, but it convicted him of planting evidence on one of the men in attempt to cover up the shooting.

Sandoval, 22, of Laredo, Texas, had faced five charges in the April and May deaths of two unidentified men. He was found not guilty of the two murder charges, but the panel decided he had placed a spool of detonation wire on one of the bodies to make it look as if the man was an insurgent.

Lawyers for Sandoval urged that he be sentenced only for misplacement of public or private property, which carries no more than six months in prison.

The prosecution argued that Sandoval should be punished for obstruction of justice, which carries a maximum five-year sentence. The same military panel that reached a decision on Sandoval's guilt will sentence him today.

"Anyone who has been charged with murder for their first kill on the battlefield on the order of his superior and is found not guilty is happy," Captain Craig Drummond, a defense attorney, said outside court after the verdict. "Today, what the panel concluded was justice. This soldier is not guilty."

In dramatic testimony during the two-day court-martial, Sandoval's colleagues testified they were following orders when they shot the men during two separate incidents on April 27 and May 11.

Specialist Alexander Flores, of Hayward, California, who was in the same squad as Sandoval on the day of the April killing, testified they were acting on the orders of their platoon leader who said the suspect was "our guy" and ordered them to "move in," which they interpreted as "take the target out."

After the killing, Flores said Staff Sergeant Michael Hensley told him to place a spool of detonation wire on the body and in the man's pocket, which he did.

But prosecutors cited an interview with Sandoval immediately after his arrest in which he said he had planted the wire.

Outside court, Flores stood by his testimony.

"He was just doing his job, as he was told. It's not his fault," Flores said.

In the May shooting, Sergeant Evan Vela said Hensley told him to shoot the man, who had stumbled upon their snipers' hideout, although he was not armed and had his hands in the air when he approached the soldiers.

"He [Hensley] asked me if I was ready. I had the pistol out. I heard the word shoot. I don't remember pulling the trigger. It took me a second to realize that the shot came from the pistol in my hand," Vela testified, crying.

Vela of Rigby, Idaho, said that as the Iraqi man was convulsing on the ground, "Hensley kind of laughed about it and hit the guy on the throat and said shoot again."

"After [the Iraqi man] was shot, Hensley pulled an AK-47 out of his rucksack and said, `This is what we are going to say happened,"' said Vela, who testified on Thursday under a deal that bars his account of events from being used against him when he goes to trial.

Sandoval also was acquitted yesterday of charges he planted the weapon on the second man's body.
This story has been viewed 1104 times.