A US soldier among five charged in the thrill-killings of Afghan civilians last year pleaded guilty to a murder charge on Thursday, confessing in court that he fired a heavy machine gun at a startled, unarmed man from 5m away after a co-defendant tossed a grenade at him.
“I knew I should have taken cover, but instead I pulled the trigger,” Private First Class Andrew Holmes, of Boise, Idaho, told the judge.
The soldiers from Joint Base Lewis-McChord south of Seattle were arrested in Afghanistan last year, after prosecutors said they killed three civilians for sport during patrols.
Holmes, 21, was accused of directly participating in the first killing, and he was initially charged with conspiracy, premeditated murder and other charges. In a deal with prosecutors, he pleaded guilty to murder by an inherently dangerous act, possessing a finger bone from his victim and smoking hashish.
Holmes told the judge, Lieutenant Colonel Kwasi Hawks, that one of the ringleaders of the plot, then-corporal Jeremy Morlock, had frequently talked about killing civilians and suggested ways to do it.
As they left on patrol on Jan. 15 last year, Morlock told Holmes to grab an illicitly obtained grenade out of his tent because “something might happen” — and Holmes complied: “I didn’t know what was going to happen, but I had a terrible feeling that corporal Morlock was up to no good.”
Later, as they patrolled a village in Kandahar Province, Morlock stood by a low wall along a field and called for Holmes. It was a cold day, Holmes said, and he was sweating and out of breath when he took a knee beside Morlock.
He said he saw Morlock fiddling with something out of the corner of his eye — “I suspected it was the grenade, but I was hoping it was his radio,” he said.
The grenade it was. Morlock tossed it at a young man standing near the other side of the wall — even though the man was obviously unarmed and posed no threat, Holmes said. Then, he ordered Holmes to shoot.
“I looked at the young man. He was standing there like a deer in the headlights,” Holmes told the judge in a clear, steady voice. “I fired six to eight rounds at the man, and I’ve regretted it ever since.”
Holmes and Morlock then posed for a photographs holding up the head of the victim. Holmes’ lawyer, Dan Conway, has insisted he was ordered to pose.
Holmes was expected to be sentenced yesterday. No sentencing recommendations by prosecutors or the defense under the terms of the plea deal were immediately disclosed. Under military law, a person can be convicted of murder even if the act is not premeditated — if, for example, the actions of the defendant were taken in disregard of human life.
The charges against the five soldiers from what was formerly known as the Fifth Stryker Brigade — since renamed the Second Stryker Brigade — are among the most serious war crimes charges to emerge from the Afghan war.
Prosecutors say that in addition to killing three men, some of the defendants kept body parts severed from the corpses as well as photographs kept as war trophies. Drug use was rampant in the unit, and one soldier who blew the whistle on hash-smoking by his comrades was beaten up and threatened.
Morlock has admitted taking part in the three killings and agreed to testify against his co-defendants in exchange for a 24-year sentence. Staff Sergeant Calvin Gibbs is the highest-ranking soldier charged in the killings, and Morlock and others said he was the mastermind. Gibbs denies wrongdoing.
Specialist Adam Winfield told his parents about the plot in Facebook messages after the first killing, and his father immediately reported it to Lewis-McChord. However, the alert was not reported up the chain of command, and the plot did not come to light until months later, when two more had been killed.
Winfield admitted participating in the last killing, saying he thought Gibbs might kill him if he did not, and he pleaded guilty this summer to involuntary manslaughter and was sentenced to three years.
Conway said it was tough for Holmes to plead guilty to murder, but prosecutors would not agree to the lesser charge of involuntary manslaughter. He blamed Holmes’ troubles on being assigned to a unit with Morlock.
“Andy Holmes joined the army as a healthy, good-natured, 18-year-old kid who liked to play golf and go fishing,” Conway said after court on Thursday. “He may be leaving the army as a felon.”
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