Posted on 10/31/2005 12:51:17 PM PST by No Longer Free State
A military tribunal began hearings Monday for a U.S. Army sergeant charged with killing two superior officers in Iraq, with a witness testifying that the defendant told him he wanted to kill one of the victims.
Staff Sgt. Alberto B. Martinez, of Troy, N.Y., faces murder charges in the June 7 killing of Capt. Philip Esposito and Lt. Louis E. Allen in a bomb blast at Forward Operating Base Danger, near the central Iraqi city of Tikrit, the hometown of the deposed Iraqi leader, Saddam Hussein, some 80 miles north of Baghdad.
The tribunal, held at Camp Arifjan in Kuwait, will determine whether to send the case to a court martial. The hearing adjourned until Tuesday, when a decision for a recommendation on whether to proceed with the case will be made.
During Monday's session, one witness, Capt. Carl Prober, said Martinez told him twice that he hated Esposito — once in September 2004 and again in May. In the second instance, Martinez said "specifically I hate (Esposito) and I'm going to frag (him)," Prober testified.
Esposito, 30, and Allen, 34, were killed by a blast in Esposito's office in a former Saddam palace being used as a base. Their deaths were initially thought to be a result of "indirect fire" on the base — a mortar round that struck a window on the side of the building where Esposito and Allen were.
Senior Master Sgt. Kevin Fitzgerald, an expert on explosives, testified that the blast was caused by a Claymore anti-personnel mine and possibly three grenades. Surgeon Col. Joan Sullivan told the tribunal that the men's injuries were not consistent with wounds caused by a mortar or rocket.
The widows of Esposito and Allen attended the hearings after the Army agreed to fly them to Kuwait for the sessions.
(Excerpt) Read more at foxnews.com ...
ping
Martinez should go before a firing squad.
Let's convict him first, shall we? Then firing squad, hanging, drawing and quartering are fine with me.
I dunno. Firing squad seems so quick & painless to me.
WGY (Albany-Troy-Schenectady's 50,000 watt clear-channel station) has been headlining this story all day, almost like this guy is a celebrity.
What action did Capt. Prober take at that time?
Don't they teach officers how to handle a situation such as this?
The modern firing squad should consist of a claymore mine, wired, through a "black box", to multiple "clackers", One of which is not connected at all.
That would seem appropriate, at least in this case, while retaining some of the traditions associated with the classic firing squad.
Although I might be persuaded to let the widows have a go at him, with dull knives, first.
Drop him downtown faluja in full uniform alone without a weapon when found guilty.......let him explain hisself to the terrorists.
This is disgusting. I wonder if Martinez is a fan of that loony Colorado professor who goes around advocating the fragging of superior officers.
Capt. Esposito is from my home county. There was some question as to whether the Army would allow the widow to attend.
No, give him a weapon, with blank ammunition, no flack vest, no helmet, no canteen. And make it the neighborhood outside Abu Ghraib - Fallujah's not the bad place it used to be.
Of course this runs the risk of providing the bad guys with a PR hero if they bother to talk to him before cutting him up.
The question was about whether it was wise to send the wives to a trial inside Iraq. They compromised & moved the trial to Kuwait. Good, common sense compromise.
The Trial Counsel for the government (the prosecutor) presents evidence to the 32b officer. The defense can offfer rebuttal evidence, but I rarely saw this done. Defense counsel do not like to tip their hands. So, basically after the government has presented evidence, the 32b officer renders a written report to the Convening Authority (CA), normally the division commander or if on a Army post, the post commander, but it is a general officer. Based on advice from his local Staff Judge Advocate (the commander's attorneys), after reviewing the recommendations of the 32b report, the CA can do several things. He can dismiss the charge(s) (not likely in this case), refer the charges to trial by court martial (at various levels, but probably a General Court in this case), give the guy non-judicial punishment under Article 15 (about as likely as Kerry getting the Medal of Honor for his Vietnam service), or some other administrative action.
IT DOES NOT MATTER WHAT THE 32b OFFICER RECOMMENDS!!! Get that straight right now. The CA IS NOT REQUIRED to follow the recommendations of the 32 officer. I have been involved in cases where the 32 officer was, let's say a nut case, and made a recommendation that did not go over with my Staff Judge Advocate. The SJA recommended that a general court be convened and that is what the CA did. It is only a recommendation. It is not written in stone.
What Martinez said, about fragging the guy, is a crime under the UCMJ. It is called: communication of a threat . . . . . (with other assorted words tacked on as needed).
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