Free Republic

Pvt. Federico Merida of the U.S. P National Guard was assigned to protect his fellow soldiers at an Army base in Iraq. Instead he killed one of them after the two men had consensual sex in a guard tower near Tikrit. According to court-martial records obtained by The News & Observer of Raleigh, N.C., in mid December, plus other news reports, Merida admitted to shooting 17-year-old Iraqi soldier Falah Zaggam 11 times last May because he was upset about having had sex with him. Merida, 21, was sentenced in September to 25 years in prison, and he will be dishonorably...

RALEIGH, N.C. -- A National Guardsman who pleaded guilty to killing a 17-year-old Iraqi soldier said he shot the young man after they had consensual sex in a guard tower, a newspaper reported Saturday, citing court-martial records. Pvt. Federico Daniel Merida, 21, pleaded guilty to murder without premeditation and other charges during a court-martial in Iraq in September. Merida was sentenced Sept. 25 to 25 years in prison and reduced in rank and will be dishonorably discharged. He is being held at Fort Leavenworth, Kan., a Leavenworth spokeswoman said. Army officials at Forward Operating Base Danger, where the court-martial was...