Court-martial advised in alleged fragging

[catman]

Martinez could get death penalty if found guilty

By Joseph Giordono, Stars and Stripes
Mideast edition, Wednesday, November 2, 2005



A former 42nd Infantry Division supply sergeant should face court-martial on charges he killed two of his superior officers earlier this year in Iraq, a U.S. Army investigating officer said Tuesday at the end of a two-day Article 32 hearing in Kuwait.

Testimony at the hearing showed reasonable cause to charge Staff Sgt. Alberto B. Martinez with using a Claymore anti-personnel mine and three hand grenades to kill his company commander and operations officer, Col. Patrick Reinert said Tuesday.

The nonbinding recommendation will be decided upon by Lt. Gen. John Vines, commander of Multi-National Forces?Iraq and the convening authority in the case.

?I recommend trial by a general court-martial,? Reinert said, according to accounts from the courtroom at Camp Arifjan.

?There was no evidence that the accused was not mentally responsible at the time of the crimes. There is reasonable grounds to believe he committed the offenses alleged ? there is reasonable cause to believe he had the motive and the opportunity to commit these offenses.?

Capt. Phillip T. Esposito and 1st Lt. Louis E. Allen were killed June 7 at Forward Operating Base Danger, near Tikrit. The military initially said it was an indirect fire attack, but investigators quickly concluded otherwise.

Martinez, who had reportedly been disciplined and relieved of his duties by Esposito, was arrested a few days after the incident.

Martinez, 37, has five days to challenge the recommendation before it can be finalized by the convening authority. Officials previously have said Martinez is eligible for the death penalty.

The wives of Allen, Esposito and Martinez all attended the Kuwait trial, which was moved from Tikrit in part to accommodate the families? requests to attend. A special audio link to West Point, N.Y., was established to let other family members follow the proceedings.

At least nine witnesses testified during the two-day hearing, similar to a grand jury proceeding in civilian courts. One witness said Martinez told him of hatred for Esposito and a desire to kill the captain; another testified that the fatal wounds suffered by the two men were not consistent with a mortar or rocket attack.

Prosecutors alleged during the hearing that Martinez set off the Claymore, then threw the grenades to try to make the attack look like an enemy action.

In recommending a general court-martial and possible capital punishment, Reinert cited several aggravating factors, including the use of a mine in a closed space, the state of war extant when the attack occurred and the fact that Martinez specifically targeted his superior officers.

Reinert also recommended Martinez face charges of larceny for removing the grenades and ?using them in a personal vendetta,? and a charge of violating Article 134 (General Article), ?specifically, prejudice of good order and discipline in the Armed Forces; conduct of a nature to bring discredit upon the Armed Forces; and use of weapons of mass destruction (hand grenade/Claymore mine) against a U.S. national abroad.?

[SEATJERKER]

...His unit is located in Troy, New York, we used to hold "stand downs at the armory until 9/11,...

...there is more to this guy, it is alledged that this jerk burned his house down before he left, "wired it" to make it look like an electrical fire, and collected the insurance, lived in Schaghticoke which is 10 miles from where I work now, pass through it everyday on the way in to work,...

...eye for an eye, frag him,...

...

[SuperScout]

Once an Article 32 investigation has been completed and a recommendation for a general court martial is made, the wheels of justice are usually on a non-stop track to conviction. It sounds like this alleged dirtball should have been behind bars before he besmirched the uniform. Don't think that even the best defense lawyers are going to able to save him from the gurney. In the words of the Cable Guy, "git 'er done!"

[darrels joy]

US Soldier pleads not guilty to murdering two superior officers

Posted on August 24, 2008 by williamamos
I had not heard of this case

Lo Hud valley News
Soldier pleads not guilty in fragging case

By Suzan Clarke • The Journal News • August 23, 2008

A soldier accused of killing two superior officers in Iraq, one of whom was from Suffern, pleaded not guilty yesterday.

Army Staff Sgt. Alberto Martinez entered the plea during an Article 39(a) proceeding - the equivalent of a civilian court’s pretrial hearing - at Fort Bragg, N.C.

Martinez, 40, of Troy, N.Y., is charged with two counts of premeditated murder in the June 2005 deaths of Capt. Phillip Esposito, 30, of Suffern, his company commander, and 1st Lt. Louis E. Allen, 34, of Milford, Pa., second in command of the 42nd Infantry Division’s headquarters support company in Tikrit, Iraq.

Martinez is accused of rigging and detonating a claymore mine on Esposito’s window the night of June 7, 2005. Allen was in the room with Esposito. Both men died of their injuries the next day.

Military judge Col. Stephen Henley made a number of rulings during yesterday’s hearing.

Among them, he deferred to a defense request that Martinez be moved from his current holding facility to another location, but left the final decision up to the facility commander.

The defense had argued that the suspect’s current confinement location was “suppressive,” according to a Fort Bragg media release detailing the results of the hearing.

The Fayetteville (N.C.) Observer reported that Martinez’s attorneys argued their client’s solitary confinement at Camp Lejeune in Jacksonville, N.C., was unduly stressful.

Henley said Martinez would get credit for time served if convicted.

The judge denied a motion by Martinez’s defense team that sought to prevent the prosecution from calling additional witnesses, and said he would allow witnesses to be called who would testify that Martinez was disrespectful and insubordinate to Esposito and Allen prior to their deaths.

He also ordered the prosecution to make deployed government witnesses available for defense interviews.

Henley asked Martinez whether he was aware of the severity of the charges and the possibility that he might face capital punishment if convicted. Martinez confirmed that understood.

Martinez’s defense team then entered the plea of not guilty.

The plea represents progress, said Barbara Allen, Louis Allen’s widow. She and Siobhan Esposito, the captain’s widow, and several other family members were present for the hearing.

“It’s really nice to know that he had to enter a plea, and that means there’s no turning back now; we’re actually going to trial,” Allen said.

The case has had many delays, and Siobhan Esposito said it had been “a long and difficult ordeal” for both families.

“Now it is quite apparent that we are going to trial. For a long time I was doubtful (about) when we would go to trial,” Esposito said.

The next pretrial hearing is set for Oct. 6, with the court-martial to begin the following day. The trial could last through Dec. 31.

Barbara Allen said she was “very, very glad” about the way the case was proceeding. As for the results of the trial, Allen said: “The eventual outcome needs to be the death penalty. That’s what needs to happen.”

The two officers’ deaths are considered by the military to be the first “fragging” incident since the U.S. invaded Iraq. Fragging is military slang for intentionally killing another service member.
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