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US soldier guilty of Iraq murders | US soldier guilty of Iraq murders |
(about 5 hours later) | |
A US Army master sergeant has been found guilty of the murder of four Iraqi detainees in 2007. | A US Army master sergeant has been found guilty of the murder of four Iraqi detainees in 2007. |
A jury of eight officers and NCOs reached the verdict against Master Sgt John Hatley at a court martial at a US base in southern Germany. | A jury of eight officers and NCOs reached the verdict against Master Sgt John Hatley at a court martial at a US base in southern Germany. |
He will be sentenced on Thursday. He faces the possibility of life in jail. | He will be sentenced on Thursday. He faces the possibility of life in jail. |
Hatley, 40, is the most senior of seven soldiers allegedly involved. Two have been convicted of murder and two admitted to lesser charges. | |
He was also found guilty of conspiracy to commit murder, but cleared on one count of obstructing justice. | |
He was acquitted over an incident where a wounded Iraqi insurgent was shot and killed. | |
Hatley, who had denied the charges, showed no emotion as the verdict was read out at the US Army's Rose Barracks in southern Germany. | |
Ammunition found | |
The soldiers that Hatley led were stationed at a highly exposed combat post in West Rashid, which in early 2007 was one of the most violent neighbourhoods in Baghdad. | |
When they found four Iraqi men not far from a cache of weapons, including sniper rifles, just a week after one of their own sergeants had been shot and killed, they took the law into their own hands, says the BBC's Kevin Connolly in Washington. | |
On two separate occasions, the accused became the judge, jury and executioner Capt Derrick GraceProsecution lawyer | |
With no real evidence against them the detainees should have been released, our correspondent says. | |
Instead they were bound, blindfolded and summarily killed. It is thought their bodies were dumped in a canal but they have never been found. | |
Because of that absence of physical evidence, Hatley was convicted on the strength of witness statements including those from the two other soldiers already convicted of the killings. | |
Capt Derrick Grace, for the prosecution, said testimony had pointed to "a complete breakdown of discipline and crimes that are among the worst of a soldier". | |
"On two separate occasions, the accused became the judge, jury and executioner." | |
Hatley is one of seven soldiers allegedly involved in the case and the third to be convicted for murder. | |
In February, Sgt Joseph Leahy, 28, was sentenced to life in prison for his role in the case and last month Sgt Joseph Mayo, 27, was sentenced to 35 years in prison. |