US Army sergeant clear of killing Iraqi
Posted Sat Jan 8, 2005 7:42pm AEDT
A US military panel has found an Army sergeant innocent of killing an Iraqi civilian, but guilty of assault, for having subordinates force the Iraqi off a bridge over the Tigris River, where prosecutors said he drowned.
Army Sgt Tracy Perkins was cleared of a charge of involuntary manslaughter, but found guilty on charges of assault and obstruction of justice. He was also cleared of a charge of making false statements.
Sentencing of Perkins, 33, a 14-year Army veteran, will begin on Saturday by the same jury panel. He faces up to eleven-and-a-half years in prison on the assault and obstruction of justice convictions.
The military panel had deliberated for more than 16 hours before delivering its verdict late on Friday night.
Perkins was accused of killing Zaidoun Hassoun, 19, by having soldiers force him and Hassoun's cousin off a ledge about 3 to 4 metres above the Tigris river in Samarra, Iraq in January 2004.
Marwan Fadil, who was forced off the bridge along with his cousin, Hassoun, testified on Wednesday that the soldiers tossed the two at gunpoint into the water after they begged for mercy and then laughed as Hassoun drowned.
Defence attorney Captain Joshua Norris said the panel should not convict Perkins because there was "no body, no evidence, no death". Soldiers testified the both men made it safely to shore and that the death may have been faked.
“Michael Pheneger, a retired Army intelligence colonel who reviewed the materials for the ACLU, said the documents suggest many allegations of war crimes in Iraq are not being made public. “
ummmm - actually well publicized Courts Martial at Fort Carson handled both the drowning and the interrogation incidents that happened during OIF 1