Free Republic

On May 1, 2008, Richard V. Stevens, of Stevens & Brash, L.L.C, won an acquittal in the case of Sgt. Leonardo Treviño. The week before, Frank Spinner, a counsel with the firm, defended SFC Corrales in a separate case. For background on the cases, see here and here. Rich sent this message for readers of Defend Our Troops and Defend Our Marines._______________________________________________ 10 May 2008 It is very difficult and confusing for our military members and their families, who have sacrificed and contributed so much to the military's missions, to suddenly face accusations of crimes out of combat in the...

A court-martial panel on Friday found a Hawaii-based soldier not guilty in the killing of an unarmed Iraqi during a raid on a suspected insurgent hideout last year. Sgt. 1st Class Trey Corrales' friends and family erupted in cheers when the head of the military panel, or jury, read the verdict. The jury of nine soldiers acquitted Corrales of all three charges, including premeditated murder, after more than seven hours of deliberation. Corrales would have faced a minimum sentence of life in prison if he had been convicted. Corrales said it feels like a 200-pound weight had been lifted from...

WHEELER ARMY AIRFIELD, Hawaii (AP) — A court-martial panel on Friday found a Hawaii-based soldier not guilty in the killing of an unarmed Iraqi during a raid on a suspected insurgent hideout last year. Sgt. 1st Class Trey Corrales' friends and family erupted in cheers when the head of the military panel, or jury, read the verdict. The jury of nine soldiers acquitted Corrales of all three charges, including premeditated murder, after more than seven hours of deliberation. Corrales would have faced a minimum sentence of life in prison if he had been convicted. Corrales said it feels like a...

WHEELER ARMY AIRFIELD, Hawaii — The lawyer for a Hawaii-based soldier accused of killing an unarmed Iraqi last year said the defense won't contest that his client shot the man. But defense attorney Frank Spinner said the shooting was neither unlawful nor premeditated. Contradicting the prosecution in the court-martial of Sgt. 1st Class Trey Corrales, of San Antonio, Spinner said the soldier didn't order a subordinate in his platoon to shoot the Iraqi, whose name has not been disclosed. The court-martial is expected to last at least through this week at Wheeler Army Airfield on Oahu. Corrales has pleaded not...

HONOLULU, Aug. 26 (UPI) -- Several U.S. Army soldiers killed in a helicopter crash in Iraq last week were to be witnesses in the homicide trial of their former superior. Honolulu's KITV reported Sunday that some of the soldiers who died in the crash had been scheduled to testify in the trial of Sgt. 1st Class Trey Corrales, who is accused of orchestrating the death of an Iraqi detainee this year. Corrales, who was in the same Hawaii-based platoon as the soldiers killed in Wednesday's crash, allegedly shot the detainee repeatedly June 23. He is accused of then ordering his...

A soldier charged with premeditated murder in the death of an Iraqi told family members in a recent e-mail that a glowing evaluation he received five days before the alleged killing "says it all" about his character. Sgt. 1st Class Trey A. Corrales of San Antonio, who allegedly fired multiple rounds into a detainee June 23 and ordered a subordinate to do the same, has also told his wife he's felt isolated since being charged with one count of murder last month. "He said he doesn't know anyone," Lily Corrales told the San Antonio Express-News in a story for its...

LAS VEGAS – Diego Corrales, a former world champion boxer who scored one of the most memorable knockouts in boxing history, died Monday in a three-vehicle accident near his Las Vegas home. Corrales was driving a 2007 Suzuki 1000 motorcycle, traveling northbound on Fort Apache Road in the southwest part of the city, when it inexplicably struck the back of a 1997 Honda Accord, Las Vegas police spokesman Sgt. Tracy McDonald said. McDonald said the motorcycle careened into the southbound lane and, at some point, he was tossed off the bike. A 2004 Mercedes-Benz traveling in the southbound lane was...