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A former Fort Campbell soldier sentenced to prison for his role in the killings of three Iraqi detainees will be released on parole in October, his family said Saturday.

JAG HUNTER HERE: (POSTING FROM THE SWEETWATER, TENNESSEE LIBRARY) STEELE'S MARCH (PART IV) PART I - http://jaghunters.blogspot.com/2008/12/jag-hunter-here-posting-from-sweetwater_18.html PART II - http://jaghunters.blogspot.com/2008/12/jag-hunter-here-posting-from-sweetwater_20.html PART III - http://jaghunters.blogspot.com/2008/12/jag-hunter-here-posting-from-sweetwater_22.html No Article 32 probable cause hearing was conducted before Ray Girouard's general court-martial. Ray's court-martial-- in consequence--is rendered void even by Defense Department procedural standards. The Supreme Court ruling is consistent on this point and worthy of consideration. Ray Girouard, belonging to the army is not subject to the illegal and irresponsible general court-martial he suffered, when the law for convening his court-martial and directing its proceedings and organization were so blatantly disregarded. In Ray's...

STEELE'S MARCH (PART I) America's courts-martial scheme is burdened by a grim reputation. Experienced readers of courts-martial records become conscious always of power and design. In the series of courts-martial surrounding Operation Iron Triangle (9 May 2006), these distinctive factors quickly emerge from the shadows as a ship emerges from dense fog. Army Ranger -- Staff Sergeant Raymond L. Girouard is being punished without a jury trial for crimes he never committed. Courts-martial records are full of obvious things which nobody by any chance ever observes. In consequence of reading yesterday some of the earliest Iron Triangle reports the diabolical...

Advocates say they are well armed with documentation, they are demanding that the top U.S. law office investigate and prosecute the case. (SALEM, Ore.) - A letter dispatched to Attorney General Alberto Gonzales seeks criminal prosecution for interference in the court martials of Marine Sergeant Lawrence Hutchins, III and Army Ranger Staff Sergeant Raymond Girouard. The complaints alleges "military outlawry" and suggests that only a public demand and disclosure of relevant facts will bring relief to two American fighting men who were charged with murder in a war zone. The author of the letter cites numerous examples throughout history that...

A military panel found a 101st Airborne soldier guilty of three counts of negligent homicide but not guilty of premeditated murder in the deaths of three Iraqi detainees. Staff Sgt. Ray Girouard, 24, smiled as he hugged his defense lawyer and family members after the verdict was read. He faced up to life in prison had he been found guilty of premeditated murder. Ron Bentley of Sweetwater said his grandson called home late Friday while the panel was deliberating and told his grandmother, Pat, “Ma, start praying for me.” Girouard called his grandparents again about midnight and was happy with...

With the March 13 court martial date fast approaching, the counsel for 24-year-old Staff Sgt. Raymond Girouard is preparing a vigorous defense.The 101st Airborne soldier from Sweetwater stands charged with pre-mediated murder in the connection with the May 9, 2006, shooting deaths of three Iraqi detainees during operations at a chemical complex about 65 miles north of Baghdad.Three other soldiers charged in connection with the shootings have already pleaded guilty to lesser charges and stand poised to testify against the 2001 Sweetwater High School graduate.At least one of the other soldiers will testify Girouard ordered the men to kill the...

SWEETWATER, Tenn. – A 6-foot banner hanging from a gazebo in the center of this town of 6,000 reads: “Ray fought for Sweetwater. Now let's fight for Ray.”Folks in Sweetwater are standing by hometown soldier Raymond Girouard, raising more than $18,000 for his defense against murder charges.The 24-year-old staff sergeant with the 101st Airborne Division, was one of four soldiers charged with murdering three Iraqi detainees last year.“Anybody that knows Raymond knows his character, and this is not Raymond,” said his grandfather, 64-year-old Ron Bentley.The other soldiers have pleaded guilty and agreed to cooperate with prosecutors; Girouard, the squad leader,...

The Iron Triangle Case is heating up, and we have the info you won't find anywhere else. Not CNN, not the AP, no one. Three Airborne soldiers are charged with premeditated murder in the death of three Iraqis, and this case is incredible. No bodies, no evidence, and the statements of a pedophile as the accuser. And now, one man has taken a plea that reads more like a book being thrown at him after a jury trial. One of the attorneys have been arrested, and there's much more. After all of this, you haven't heard the story behind the...

An Army investigator has recommended the death penalty for four soldiers accused of murder during a raid in Iraq. Lt. Col. James P. Daniel Jr. made the recommendation in report obtained Saturday by The Associated Press. Daniel found several aggravating factors that warrant a sentence of death in the case of four soldiers accused of killing three men during the May raid in the Salahuddin province. Staff Sgt. Raymond L. Girouard, Spc. William B. Hunsaker, Pfc. Corey R. Clagett, and Spc. Juston R. Graber, all of the Fort Campbell, Ky.- based 3rd Battalion, 187th Infantry Regiment, 101st Airborne Division, were...

For more than a month after the killings, Sgt. Lemuel Lemus stuck to his story. “Proper escalation of force was used,” he told an investigator, describing how members of his unit shot and killed three Iraqi prisoners who had lashed out at their captors and tried to escape after a raid northwest of Baghdad on May 9. Then, on June 15, Sergeant Lemus offered a new and much darker account. In a lengthy sworn statement, he said he had witnessed a deliberate plot by his fellow soldiers to kill the three handcuffed Iraqis and a cover-up in which one soldier...