National Guardsman Cleared Of Murder Charges In Deaths Of Two Superior Officers At Iraqi Base
(AP) A soldier was acquitted of murder Thursday in the 2005 bombing deaths of two superiors in Iraq, triggering loud outbursts and gasps from the slain officers' families.
A military jury found National Guard Staff Sgt. Alberto Martinez not guilty of two counts of premeditated murder in the deaths of Capt. Phillip Esposito and 1st Lt. Louis Allen. Both officers were killed when an anti-personnel mine detonated in a window of their room at a U.S. military base in Iraq in June 2005.
Really don't know how breaking this is, I just caught it at the CBS site and it's a recent post.
Have not seen it elsewhere as yet.
Witnesses had testified that Esposito and Martinez were at odds and clashed regularly because the officer thought Martinez was lax in his operation of the unit's supply room.
The Army reported hundreds of "fragging" incidents between 1969 and 1971, but only four soldiers have been court-martialed or charged with killing a fellow soldier since the Iraq war began in 2003.
I'm going to have to see some more on this, but in following it the recent reports didn't look good for the prosecution.
UpDate:
Experts:
'Fragging' verdict shows system works
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