Posted on 04/19/2005 11:51:55 AM PDT by Former Military Chick
FORT BRAGG, N.C. A defense psychiatrist says the Army sergeant accused in a fatal grenade attack in Kuwait had a history of mental illness in his family that hurt him as he got older.
Testimony from Dr. George Woods of Oakton, California, came after a hearing with the jury out of the courtroom about his qualifications and diagnosis.
Woods testified that Sergeant Hasan Akbar's (AK'-bahrz) relatives had problems going back to 1968 when an uncle was discharged from the Marine Corps because he had an emotionally unstable personality.
The psychiatrist also testified that Akbar's half brother also exhibited paranoia in 2003 when he told an F-B-I agent that the government had surrounded his home with helicopters and tapped his telephone.
Akbar is charged with two counts of first-degree murder and three counts of attempted first-degree murder. He allegedly rolled grenades into tents in the middle of the night and then fired on soldiers in the ensuing chaos.
Give me a break.
I go back to yesterday when the defense witness said ``He never smiled at any time during my evaluation. That was very significant ... not showing any emotion,'' Tuton testified.
I did it BUT ... is getting down right old.
So, he'll end up as roasted nuts. That works for me.
UPDATE PING
It is really tough to know by just reading the press accounts how the jury is absorbing the defenses case in chief.
I know as I read the articles that the jury just might find him insane. But insane and I hope sentenced to death.
I saw some pretty disturbing video on WRAL last night, showing this guy. Are they showing that in court?
Oh, that is just so sad. They should give him a big hug and a teddy bear, and let him go.
On the other hand, let's assume that no one cares about his poor wittle childhood, and let the bas**rd fry.
You know, I just don't get the insanity defense thing. Of course he's insane. Sane people don't blow other people up. But who cares either way? He needs to be removed from the planet, crazy or not, just like any other murderer. I really don't care what "made him do it". He did it. That's enough for me.
*************
Akbar laughed at grenade scene in film
Soldier later Attacked "Battle Buddies" in Camp
AP Weeks before a deadly grenade attack on his comrades, Sgt. Hasan Akbar attended a camp showing of the movie Apocalypse Now and laughed at a scene of U.S. troops being attacked with a grenade, a soldier testified yesterday.
The testimony came as lawyers for the Fort Campbell soldier opened a defense in which they don't dispute Akbar carried out the March 2003 attack, but hope to spare him a possible death penalty by showing he was mentally incapable of premeditating it.
Spc. Joshua Rice testified that soldiers from the 101st Airborne Division were watching the 1979 Vietnam War movie at Camp Pennsylvania in Kuwait.
During a scene in which a woman tosses a grenade into a helicopter loaded with wounded American soldiers, Akbar, who was seated at the back of the room, burst out laughing, Price recalled. He said that when the soldiers turned around to look, Akbar got up and went outside.
Earlier, Dr. Fred Tuton, a Baton Rouge, La., psychologist who examined the defendant as a teenager, testified that Akbar appeared incapable of relating to others.
"He never smiled at any time during my evaluation. That was very significant ... not showing any emotion," Tuton told the jury.
Akbar, 33, is charged with two counts of first-degree murder and three counts of attempted first-degree murder. He allegedly rolled grenades into tents in the middle of the night and then fired on soldiers in the ensuing chaos.
Prosecutors have said Akbar planned his attack on fellow soldiers, and allegedly told investigators he carried out the attack because he was worried that U.S. forces would harm fellow Muslims. Last week, the prosecution introduced diary entries in which Akbar wrote he might have to kill his "battle buddies."
The court-martial is the first time since the Vietnam era that an American has been prosecuted on charges of murdering a fellow soldier during wartime.
I have no words to describe my feelings about this POS.
You pegged it.
Don't we have a few JAG freepers....can he be sentenced to death if found guilty but insane?....I knew they would go for this defense....his whole family seems to have had trouble with the military and gov...
I still do not understand why this POS wasn't shot dead the second he was caught. Hang him high!
Any wagering on this? I bet he will not be executed and that he will get only brief and luxurious imprisonment before he is released.... That's my feeling about this.
Man, I do hope you are wrong. But no, I wouldn't bet on it.
It's a pity that they won't put an end to this waste-of-time trial...and mete out some TRUE justice.
I don't give a rat's behind if they DO decide this POPS is crazy. It doesn't change the FOREVER TRUTH that his 'brothers-in-arms' are dead...dead...dead. And his craziness will NOT resurrect them!!!
|
|
Incompetence said to follow Akbar
Soldier accused of murder couldn't keep track of soldiers, equipment, witness says.
Tuesday, April 19, 2005
By JEFF SCHOGOL FORT BRAGG, N.C. -- After he was fired from one platoon for incompetence, Army Sgt. Hasan Akbar was shuffled back into a leadership position in Kuwait, where he killed two officers, including Capt. Christopher Scott Seifert, of Williams Township, according to testimony Monday. Akbar is on trial for murder and faces the death penalty. Defense attorneys concede Akbar carried out the March 23 attacks but said he is mentally ill. Akbar's defense began its case Monday. Several witnesses testified Akbar was a poor leader who had acted oddly and expressed concern about going to war against fellow Muslims. Former Sgt. 1st Class Paul Means said he had asked Akbar after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks if Akbar could fight a "rag-head." "He looked at me and smiled and said it depended what level of jihad he was on," Means said. Means testified that he had fired Akbar for his poor on-duty performance. He recalled that Akbar once lost his own duffle bag, and after it was found, Akbar could not find the key to open it. Means said the duffle bag incident convinced him to fire Akbar as a team leader. He said he wrote a scathing report on Akbar but noted it was later edited to paint a more favorable picture. "I think we were trying to take care of an NCO (noncommissioned officer) and keep mentoring him," Means said without further elaboration. Means said Akbar was transferred to another unit and became team leader again in a few months. Sgt. 1st Class Billy Rogers testified that Akbar was transferred to his unit for mentoring but still had problems. Akbar had problems remembering tasks and keeping track of soldiers and equipment, Rogers said. Rogers said this was not the first time Akbar had been transferred for rehabilitation and mentoring, but he did not elaborate further. Under cross-examination, Rogers said Akbar was still a decent soldier who was given the task of clearing live mines. Rogers said he decided not to take Akbar on a mission into Kuwait because he did not trust him to be capable of going on air assault missions. Several witnesses who testified Monday said Akbar would pace, talk to himself, go off in a trance and laugh for odd reasons. Once when the soldiers in Kuwait were watching the movie "Apocalypse Now," Akbar laughed after one scene in which a Viet Cong guerilla threw a hand grenade into a helicopter, killing wounded American soldiers, said Spc. Joshua Rice, who served with Akbar. Rice said Akbar was an introverted person. But in Kuwait, Akbar's detachment from other people was "more than anyone else I've ever seen," Rice said. One day Akbar was eating his meal and staring at the ground and did not notice when soldiers took his rifle away from him, Rice said. He said that even when he showed Akbar his own weapon, Akbar barely acknowledged him. Spc. Charles Seitzinger said other soldiers derided Akbar when he made mistakes, saying taunts such as "Look at that moron, friggin' rag-head, always screwing up." Akbar's attorneys claim their client construed the soldiers' slurs against Muslims and Iraqis as a conspiracy against him. Also Monday, psychologist Dr. Fred Tuton said Akbar was disinclined at an early age to trust people. Tuton said he interviewed Akbar at the behest of the state after allegations that Akbar's stepfather sexually abused Akbar's sister. Akbar blamed his mother for not protecting his family from the abuse, Tuton said. Tests also show Akbar "had a real lack of attraction to parent images or people in general," Tuton said. Tuton said that not being able to trust other people can lead to feelings of paranoia. But under cross-examination, Tuton said he did not use the word "paranoid" in his report to describe Akbar. Tuton said it was common for Akbar to distrust people given his family's circumstances. But Akbar's distrust was "to a significant degree," Tuton said. In other developments Monday, Akbar's defense successfully excluded a statement from Rogers that Akbar had been in the area where Seifert was killed shortly before the attacks. Jurors, who can submit written questions, have been asking witnesses to the incident if they knew where the officers had lived at Camp Pennsylvania. Also, defense attorney Maj. Dan Brookhart read testimony from FBI agent Dan Fontenot, who had interviewed Akbar's half-brother after the incidents in Kuwait. When the half-brother claimed the FBI, CIA and Army were using Blackhawk helicopters and X-rays to keep him under surveillance, Fontenot concluded the man was unstable and paranoid, Brookhart said. Akbar's court martial is expected to reconvene at 9 a.m. today. Reporter Jeff Schogol can be reached at 610-258-7171 or by e-mail at jschogol@express-times.com. |
Well this doese't make me comfortable excusing Akbar for his behavior but leads me to believe that his whole family should stop adding to the gene pool!
Normal people don't go around killing people. Akbar knew right from wrong and a lot of his actions show evidence of premeditation. HANO.
Just imagine the awful bad luck of having this guy for an officer.
Yesterday, I drove up to the Castle warmly called by inmates who were sent to Ft Leavenworth to fulfill their sentences. It is now slowly an empty shell. They have been demolishing it for about a year and frankly it was a building to be seen.
The gentleman said it was a building with a lot of history but a bit dangerous in recent years, sheet rock falling on the prisoners. Awwwwwe damn. That prison was built rock (and I mean ROCK by ROCK) by rock by the inmates when it was still considered vogue to sentence someone to harsh labor while incarcerated.
The new prison, well it looks like a huge college campus. Nice facility from the outside. Excellent out door equipment and I believe their hard labor is now making license plates and the shadow boxes for the boxes we put our loved one's flag in.
I will try and get photo's of that new prison. Then of course the big house where actually some of the most violent military prisoner's are housed.
One of the more memorable men serving LIFE,Dr. Jeffrey MacDonald . He was accused of killing his entire family at Bragg. He has always claimed his innocence. He finally remarried and asked the prison system to be moved closer to his new wife, they obliged. Go figure. He evidently has considered parole, that would mean admitting to the crime, but would let him out .. tick tock wonder what he will do.
It had occurred to me as well, there were issues in this man's life. When you join the military they actually do a background check. Not as extensive as a top but they do gather information to help evaluate the fitness of the person desiring to enter the military.
He got pass that now didn't he.
Lastly, no truer words have been said on this thread Well this doesn't make me comfortable excusing Akbar for his behavior but leads me to believe that his whole family should stop adding to the gene pool! thank you.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.