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U.S. Soldier Jailed for
Murder of Iraqi Teenager
Reuters.com
Fri Jan 14, 2005 10:52 AM ET
BAGHDAD (Reuters) - An American soldier was sentenced on
Friday to a year in jail for the murder of a severely wounded
Iraqi teenager in a Baghdad slum district during a Shi'ite
uprising last year, the U.S. military said.
"Staff Sergeant Cardenas Alban was convicted on one count of
murder and one count of conspiracy to murder at a court martial
at the 1st Cavalry Division courthouse at Camp Liberty today," a
military spokesman said.
Besides his jail term, Alban was sentenced to a reduction in
rank to private and a bad-conduct discharge.
Alban is the second American soldier to be sentenced over the
incident.
Staff Sergeant Johnny Horne was sentenced last month to three
years in jail, reduction in rank and dishonorable discharge from
the military after pleading guilty to charges of murder and
conspiracy to commit murder.
Another U.S. military officer, 2nd Lt. Erick Anderson, has
also been charged with premeditated murder and conspiracy to
commit premeditated murder.
The cases stem from an incident on Aug. 18 when Alban, Horne
and Anderson were part of a U.S. Army patrol in the Shi'ite
Muslim Sadr City district during a period of intense clashes with
fighters loyal to Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr.
U.S. soldiers saw a group of Iraqi men in a garbage truck who
they suspected were placing bombs along a road, and opened fire
on them. Several Iraqis were killed.
Alban and Horne were accused of fatally shooting an Iraqi man
who suffered severe abdominal wounds and burns after the initial
barrage of gunfire. U.S. military officials have described the
incident as a "mercy killing."
Several U.S. soldiers have faced courts martial for crimes in
Iraq, most notoriously the soldiers charged with abuse of Iraqi
prisoners at Abu Ghraib prison west of Baghdad. Revelations of
the abuse generated worldwide outrage.
© Reuters 2005. All Rights Reserved.
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