A US soldier accused of ordering subordinates to kill three Iraqi detainees should be sentenced to 10 years in prison, a military jury decided.
Staff Sergeant Ray Girouard, who was found guilty on Friday of negligent homicide in his court-martial, could have received up to 21 years in prison. He avoided a life sentence when he was found not guilty of premeditated murder.
Girouard was also found guilty of obstruction of justice for lying to investigators, of conspiracy for trying to conceal the crime and of failure to obey a general order.
He was accused of telling his soldiers to release detainees they captured during the May 9 raid near Samarra, Iraq, and then shoot them as they fled. He is the last and most senior soldier from the 101st Airborne Division to face trial in the killings.
The case was one of several in which US troops were accused of abusing Iraqis. Incidents such as the Abu Ghraib prison abuse scandal and the murder of an Iraqi girl and her family have further stirred up anti-Iraq war sentiment in the Muslim world and elsewhere.
The panel also recommended a reduction in his rank, a dishonorable discharge and forfeiture of pay, with a recommendation that the money go to his wife and son.
Girouard showed no emotion during the reading of the sentence, but afterward, he hugged his attorney. His family filed out of the courtroom without speaking to him.
His attorney, Anita Gorecki, called the case a victory, considering that her client could have faced life in prison. She said he will likely be eligible for parole in three to four years.
Military prosecutors declined to comment.
The commanding general of the 101st Airborne Division must review the sentence before it takes effect, but it is unclear how long that will take. Girouard also gets an automatic appeal of the sentence.
Girouard said on Monday he knew he made a mistake in lying about the killings.
"I made a bad decision, and I fully accept my responsibility," Girouard said.
Prosecutors had asked jurors to return the maximum sentence, saying Girouard had damaged the Army's image and became the poster child for war crimes in Iraq.
Girouard "has obliterated the good deeds of every other soldier that follows him," Captain William Fischbach said, adding: "He wants you to think he's a good soldier, a Christian, a hero. He's none of the above."
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