Military code says penalty for murder is death; investigation progress reported

[MORTARDUDE]

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G.I. suspect likely to face death

Military code says penalty for murder is death; investigation progress reported.


Tuesday, March 25, 2003


By BILL CAHIR
The Express-Times

The enlisted man who allegedly opened fire after rolling grenades into an officers' tent on Sunday morning, killing a Lehigh Valley native, will be tried before a regular military court and likely will face the death penalty, according to legal experts.

The Army has launched a formal investigation into the murder of Army Capt. Christopher Scott Seifert, a U.S. Army captain in the 101st Airborne Division. A grenade attack followed by a round of fire took the life of the 27-year-old officer and wounded 15 other soldiers at 1:22 a.m. Sunday at Camp Pennsylvania, Kuwait. Pentagon spokesmen and Army officials would not comment directly about the case against Sgt. Asan Akbar, a black convert to Islam and the only suspect in the case.

"We probably have a lot of the same questions that you have at this point," said Marc Raimondi, spokesman for the Criminal Investigation Division at Fort Belvoir, Va. "Since this incident occurred, we've certainly made a lot of progress. But we're not in a position where we can put out a lot of details."

Military lawyers and legal scholars said Akbar was a logical candidate to be tried before an ordinary court-martial proceeding. No kind of special war-crime tribunal would be needed.

"He's a regular member of the armed forces, so (Akbar) would be subject to the Uniform Code of Military Justice," said Mark O'Hara, member of the board of directors for the Judge Advocates Association, a Washington, D.C.-based group for current and former military lawyers.

Service personnel under the Uniform Code are entitled to defense counsel and a jury by their peers. Those convicted of murder "shall suffer death or imprisonment for life," the law states.

Harry Reicher, a professor of law at the University of Pennsylvania Law School and an expert on matters involving international law and human rights, noted the Screaming Eagles were deployed at the time of Seifert's killing. That fact could constitute an aggravating factor in the case, especially at time of sentencing.

A homicide charge no matter what the circumstance would prove a serious matter, Reicher explained. An attack aimed at thwarting a military mission likely would be seen by an Army jury as an especially deplorable crime requiring severe punishment.

Reicher nonetheless expressed confidence in the court-martial process, saying Akbar would be presumed innocent, represented by an Army lawyer and afforded a fair trial.

"There is no inherent reason to doubt ultimate fairness of the system," Reicher said. "And I would say, in the era in which we live today, there is an added safeguard in the knowledge of public scrutiny."

Eugene Fidell, a Washington, D.C.-based attorney who has lectured on military law at Yale Law School, said the Army was unlikely to pursue a treason complaint against Akbar even if it were to file homicide and attempted murder charges against him.

"People have talked about treason, making war on the United States," Fidell said. "I consider that unlikely. It's not unheard of for an enlisted man to kill an officer."

A notorious precedent involves a similar attack at Bien Hoa, Vietnam.

Pvt. Billy Dean Smith, a black enlisted man from Los Angeles, was charged with killing two white lieutenants by rolling a grenade into their tent in March 1971. Smith spent two years in an Army prison before he was acquitted of the crime.

An opponent of the Vietnam War, Smith claimed he was singled out for a cursory investigation by his superiors. The trial established that a grenade pin that Smith possessed at the time of the crime did not match the type used in the attack.

Raimondi offered a commitment to Seifert's family, claiming the Kuwait case would be investigated thoroughly and professionally by CID investigators, who work for combatant commanders around the globe.

"The Army Criminal Investigation Command offers its condolences to the families harmed by this incident, and we're going to work tirelessly to do our part in achieving justice for the loved ones of those soldiers," Raimondi said. Bill Cahir is Washington correspondent for The Express-Times. He can be reached at 202-383-7848 or by e-mail at