Posted on 01/19/2008 7:42:09 AM PST by RedRover
FORT HOOD, Texas (AP) - An Army sergeant kicked and shot an Iraqi insurgent who lay bleeding from nearly two dozen gunshot wounds, then after he was dead told fellow soldiers to say the man had been armed, a private at the scene testified Tuesday.
Sgt. Leonardo Trevino, 30, is charged with premeditated murder, attempted murder, assault and obstruction of justice in the suspected June incidents in Muqdadiyah, Iraq.
After the Article 32 hearing, similar to a civilian grand jury, the investigating officer will decide whether there is enough evidence to support the charges and then recommend whether to refer Trevino to a court-martial, a military trial. [NOTE: The IO recommended that the case proceed to courts martial and the Convening Authority concurred.]
Trevino's attorney Richard Stevens has said his client is wrongly accused.
That night in June, squad leader Trevino had led a "small kill team" to an area where insurgents were reportedly making improvised explosive devices, Pvt. Tristan Miller testified.
The soldiers got into a gun battle with three insurgents, killing one who had an AK-47, then went after the other two, Miller said. One got away, but they followed a trail of blood into a house where an insurgent lay crying and bleeding, Miller said.
Trevino kicked the man in the head and later shot him in the abdomen, even after Miller found no weapons under a pillow covering the man's bleeding arm, Miller said. Miller, who acknowledged that he earlier kicked the man's hand as he grabbed at him, said the insurgent was not a threat because he was "shot to hell" from the earlier gun battle.
"Trevino looks at us, and he said, 'I don't want this coming back on you guys,'" Miller said. "... Trevino goes, 'The story is, the guy had a pistol. That's that.'"
Cpl. Justin Whiteman then placed a pistol by the Iraqi's body, Miller said. Whiteman, who invoked his right not to testify when he was called as a witness Tuesday, has been charged with dereliction of duty for failing to provide aid and with accessory to attempted premeditated murder.
Whiteman also is accused of shooting the body of the first Iraqi insurgent killed, who was already dead in the street, and is charged with dereliction of duty for violating a law of war.
"Everybody was pretty excited, taking pictures," Miller said, referring to soldiers surrounding the body of the first insurgent killed.
But Sgt. Reginald Graham, the platoon sergeant, said Miller and three other soldiers didn't report the incident until much later. Graham said he didn't believe their explanation that they were scared of retaliation but believes they came forward because they disliked Trevino.
"He's outstanding," Graham said, adding that he had no concerns over Trevino's leadership style.
During questioning by Trevino's attorney, Miller said that he liked the squad leader "for the most part" but that "I think some of the stuff he did was stupid." When asked whether he had been paying full attention to the events that night, Miller acknowledged that he felt sick after seeing the badly wounded insurgent.
Spc. John Torres has been charged with attempted premeditated murder and with dereliction of duty for failing to provide aid. Torres also invoked his right not to testify on Tuesday.
Stevens said Trevino and other soldiers were upset over losing several friends killed in roadside bombings and a helicopter crash about a month earlier, Stevens said. When the hearing continues Wednesday, he said, he plans to present into evidence a videotape of Trevino speaking at the memorial service of one of those soldiers.
Trevino kicked the man in the head and later shot him in the abdomen, even after Miller found no weapons under a pillow covering the man's bleeding arm, Miller said.
He should have shot the scumbag in the head. Sentenced to two hours at the firing range, to improve his aim.
As detailed above, among the charges that Cpl. Justin Whiteman is facing is shooting an insurgent who was already dead.
Cpl. Whiteman is hereby fined 25 cents to replace the cartridge he wasted.
All other charges dismissed.
Spot on!
He was an insurgent enemy combatant not covered by the Geneva Conventions. Sgt. Trevino did the right thing and PC Pvt. Miller should be given his walking papers, grudge or no grudge he's fighting this war for the wrong side.
No, regulations state that troops may not store photographs of dead Iraqis. Regulations do not just cover taking pictures. Saying that Lt Grayson destroyed evidence is hindsight and I believe that's what his court martial will establish.
Geneva applies to armed combatants, having an ounce of dignify applies to other cases, however, if I were their commander, there would be no on duty pictures period.
Amen and spot on. These boys deserve medals for eliminating this bomb making squad and doing so without losing one of their own or being wounded in the process.
20+ comments and no one questions The Source.
We know the agenda of The Source.
We know ‘editing happens’.
looks like the agenda is working....
cause we know that a wounded and dying soldier can't kill you...right?
/sarc
I’m more prone to pick Div Commanders as the appropriate target, rather than the POTUS on this.
I doubt the POTUS actually micromanages the day to day acts/actions and activities of every troop and or officer in the military.
There are also legal limits on what he can do to intrude upon the process once started.
Div Commanders, commanders of the various legal units, etc...those, I believe, are the legit targets for the tar brushes and hanging ropes.
The border guards in prison... that’s a whole different thing. Bush screwed the pooch big time on that. There should be a huge stack of heads on display, culled from the upper echelons of the Customs and Immigration or Border Guards or whatever they’re called these days.
Another group to hold in disdain, disregard and disrespect are the citizens that live in and around where ever that piece of sh** prosecutor lives. That man’s life should be a living hell, every minute, for the rest of his life.
If the law refuses to behave respectfully, then there’s zero reason to respect the law.
We are way past the appropriate time for misbehaving.
The CiC can effect how JAG operates, and he can certainly influence the number of scumbag lawyers there are skittering around in a war zone looking for "war crimes" to prosecute, and US soldiers and Marines to throw in the brig based on allegations made by insurgent propagandists and published by willing dupes like TIME Magazine's Tim McGuirk.
The CiC can also influence the "rules of engagement", "battlefield ethics", and "law of war" nonsense. I have a whole file full of "Sir, I am taking fire. May I shoot back?" bookmarks in my "Favorite Places".
It is President George W. Bush who has placed the prosecution of the war on terror (Iraq and Afghanistan) in the hands of a bunch of scumbag lawyers, and there is simply no excuse. Bush is either cowered by the socialist Democrat newsrooms or incompetent - - take your pick.
FRegards and Semper Fidelis,
LH
Slings and Arrows for Supreme Court Justice!!!!
Unfreakingbelievable
< blush> Awww shucks! < /blush>
I hear what you’re saying. But, the way I see it, the current ROE and out of control JAGoff problem was built upon the last 3 or 4 decades of reaction to outright hostility by our media against the US military, and idiotic, incompetent, populist driven oversight by the legislation committees.
Every time some sort of “Tail Hook” came up, the military was forced into new seizers of social reconstructionism.
I, honestly, do not believe that any piece, part of whole of this current slathering of insane bullcrap is due to any one person, or changable without radical destruction.
We have, all of us, sat on our hands and watched the slow decay of reality and done nothing to try halting the process, and now it is already past too late.
The ROE and such are a product of the current dominant military management philosophies, and those are a creation of decades of triggered survival instinct made mandatory by nonstop attacks by the very same folk who the military is meant to protect.
PS. This isn’t any attempt to cover for the POTUS. His failure on national sovereignty issues has placed him well under the speeding bus, as far as I’m concerned. My only motivation in this discussion is to make sure we’re calling for fire on the proper target set.
Semper Fi
Ad Triarios Redisse!
This is disgusting that he should even be brought up on charges.
His failure on national sovereignty issues has placed all American citizens well under the speeding bus, as far as I’m concerned.
There it is.
Okay, I have a question. Why is he charged with premeditated murder AND attempted murder. He either killed the insurgent or he didn’t. Are they trying to pile on with a charge of “he tried to kill him” right before “he really did kill him”. This is a stupid piling on of charges.
I notice the team where going after insurgents who were reported to be making IED’s. Hope the panel has veterans from Iraq. Most know the damage those do to our troops.
Piling on is what it sounds like. If the prosecution can’t convince the jury that the sergeant killed the insurgent, maybe the jury can be convinced that he tried to, or wanted to, or whatever.
As a vet friend of mine likes to say, “War is hell. Combat is a motherf-—er”. This zeal for prosecutions may be good counterinsurgency doctrine. But I doubt it.
I am so glad I wasn’t for him until I was in the voting booth. I held my nose and pulled the R lever just to keep Gore out.
Now, I wonder just what would be different? Gore himself used to saw that Daddy Bush downplayed Saddam’s threat...
Why can't it be "The guy was a terrorist. I killed a terrorist. That's that"?
Anybody remember when they started programs in the schools like D.A.R.E.? Brainwashing kids that it was ok to rat out mom and dad. I see that as a huge contributing factor. Those kids are now big kids and are putting that BullShine to good use. Nothing I hate worse than a rat M.F. Unless it is a thief, but I guess there isn't much difference, is there.
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