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| Soldier guilty of murder in Iraqi detainee killing |
| 2009-02-28 |
| An Army officer who shot and killed an Iraqi detainee during an interrogation was convicted of murder Friday night by a military jury. First Lt. Michael Behenna of Edmond, Okla., avoided conviction on the more serious charge of premeditated murder in the death of the detainee he took aside for questioning last May. A military panel of seven officers at Fort Campbell also found him guilty of assault but acquitted him of making a false statement after three hours of deliberation. A sentencing hearing was scheduled for Saturday, and Behenna faces up to life in prison on the murder conviction. The more serious premeditated offense would have resulted in an automatic life without parole sentence. Behenna has testified that he was trying to defend himself when he shot Ali Mansour Mohammed and that the detainee reached for his gun in a secluded railroad culvert near Beiji, Iraq. Behenna said he hadn't intended to kill him. But Capt. Jason Elbert, a military prosecutor, said the detainee was defenseless against Behenna and that the officer's threats and other actions showed he had planned to kill the man. "He controlled the whole situation as an officer of the U.S. Army, armed and protected and under no threat," Elbert said during closing arguments Friday. Defense attorney Jack Zimmerman countered that Behenna was trying to interrogate the detainee, which is why he brought along an Iraqi translator. Behenna has also testified that he threatened Mohammed and pointed his gun at him to scare out information about a roadside bombing that killed two members of his platoon. "You just don't take a translator to an execution," Zimmerman said. Neither Behenna's defense attorney nor prosecutors would comment after the hearing. Zimmerman argued that at the time of the shooting, Behenna was suffering from an acute stress disorder as a result of the bombing. Behenna said Thursday he believed Mohammed was involved in the bombing and could provide names of the insurgents responsible. After the detainee was shot twice, once in the head and once in the chest, another Fort Campbell soldier testified that he tossed an incendiary grenade on the body. Staff Sgt. Hal Warner, pleaded guilty this month to charges of assault, maltreatment of a subordinate and making a false statement. Warner, from Braggs, Okla., was sentenced to 17 months in prison and testified against Behenna. |
| Posted by:ed |
| #13 I'm no REMF and what he did was wrong, Grom. Follow the procedure. After the initial attempt at interrogation, turn the Illegal over to the Intel guys, who will extract info that an amateur will not. Summary killing like that is not only against the ruels and laws of combat, its counterproductive in that you lose a potential source that can unravel an entire cell of operatives. I do believe that is a mistake is not trying and hanging illegal combatants in accordance with the Geneva Convention. |
| Posted by: OldSpook 2009-02-28 16:29 |
| #12 How do we know a REMF from a combat veteran? One would have to look at the background of the seven officers who convicted him. |
| Posted by: Pappy 2009-02-28 15:57 |
| #11 Look up p.s. |
| Posted by: g(r)omgoru 2009-02-28 12:49 |
| #10 Actually, you're wrong. you can't summarily execute them. i checked with a JAG. You have to try them, find them guilty of fighting out of uniform, then hold them for six months, and then you can kill 'em. which means all those US GI's who summarily executed the members of certain German units or summarily executed german soldiers who wore american uniforms are or were war criminals under Geneva. discuss. |
| Posted by: Thing From Snowy Mountain 2009-02-28 12:48 |
| #9 Summary execution of prisoners is not an option. Yes it is---look up Geneva conventions on illegal combatants. p.s. How do we know a REMF from a combat veteran? |
| Posted by: g(r)omgoru 2009-02-28 12:35 |
| #8 Summary execution of prisoners is not an option. Amen to that. |
| Posted by: Steve White 2009-02-28 12:04 |
| #7 Summary execution of prisoners is not an option. Wanted this to be seen twice on Rantburg. |
| Posted by: .5MT 2009-02-28 10:49 |
| #6 yes, the officer should get a completely fair sentence. i have seen (while enlisted) three of my peers get radically different punishments for what would seem to a civilian to be the same crime under UCMJ due to the details that were given merit in each individual case. The court will definitely take all details into consideration and the sentence will be appropriate. |
| Posted by: haveanoodle55 2009-02-28 09:48 |
| #5 I agree that Courts Martial really cuts through the legal b.s. that lawyers use in civilian courts. They are not bashful at all in pointing out when things don't add up, and heaven help a witness or lawyer who tries to pull a fast one. |
| Posted by: Anonymoose 2009-02-28 09:02 |
| #4 Ditto Procopius. Nobody on a Courts Martial board wants a soldier or officer to go down. If he was convicted, he's a murderer. Mitigating circumstances, combat fatique, rage and anger, state of mind, etc, all come into play at sentencing. Summary execution of prisoners is not an option. |
| Posted by: Besoeker 2009-02-28 07:59 |
| #3 Sorry g(r)om, This is about good order and discipline. I've sat on Courts Martial and the interest of the panel is to get to the truth. It's not easy and shouldn't be. Better to clean your own house than allow outsiders, without any understanding of the military or tactical situations, meddle in operations and standards which will certainly happen [and has in fact been attempted recently]. Its one of the things that separate us from 'them'. 'They' rationalize their unconstrained behaviors. |
| Posted by: Procopius2k 2009-02-28 07:51 |
| #2 Lets hope the rest of the men in that unit are know who the snitch is, and arrange what has to be done with care. |
| Posted by: g(r)omgoru 2009-02-28 04:48 |
| #1 "After the detainee was shot twice, once in the head and once in the chest, another Fort Campbell soldier testified that he tossed an incendiary grenade on the body." That sure does NOT sound like an accident. |
| Posted by: OldSpook 2009-02-28 01:18 |