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Atlanta Journal-Constitution
December 20, 2007
Pg. 1
Georgian faces murder trial in Iraq death
By Moni Basu, Atlanta Journal-Constitution
The good news that a Winder soldier received last month soured this week as the Army decided to press ahead with murder charges.
In the case against Spc. Christopher P. Shore, the Army downgraded its initial charge of premeditated murder of an Iraqi detainee to murder in the third degree, which amounts to a manslaughter charge in the civilian world. The charge carries a maximum penalty of life in prison.
The decision goes against the recommendation made by an investigating officer who presided over an Article 32 hearing, the equivalent of a grand jury investigation. His report, released in November, determined the evidence against Shore did not warrant referral of the case to a court-martial.
But on Tuesday, Maj. Gen. Benjamin Mixon, commander of the Hawaii-based 25th Infantry Division, gave the green light for a murder trial.
Shore, 25, who returned from a 15-month tour of Iraq in October, maintained his innocence and expressed disappointment in the Army's decision. He said he had hoped to have the case wrapped up by now and go on with life, pursuing a career in the Army. Now, just a week before Christmas, the news was hard to take.
"I guess they're playing hardball," he said by telephone from his apartment in Honolulu.
Shore's father's reaction was much stronger.
"I'm mad as hell," said Brian Shore, who lives in Lawrenceville. "I love America, but the Army is not part of my country anymore. We had faith in the system."
Shore and his platoon sergeant, Sgt. 1st Class Trey A. Corrales of San Antonio, were accused of killing an Iraqi detainee during a nighttime raid last June in a village near the northern Iraqi city of Kirkuk.
At the Article 32 hearing in October, Shore told the investigating officer that Corrales ordered him to "finish" the Iraqi man, who was bleeding and down on the ground. Shore said he fired his rifle but intentionally missed the man and the next day reported the incident to his supervisors.
Corrales waived his right to an Article 32 hearing. Maj. Gary Johnson, the attorney for Shore's brigade, said no decision has been made on Corrales yet.
Lt. Col. Raul Gonzalez, the Article 32 investigating officer, recommended that the charges against Shore be reduced to aggravated assault.
Gonzalez said no evidence existed that linked the shots fired by Shore to the detainee's death. He said that "overwhelming evidence" showed that Corrales "did with intent to kill, shoot at and hit the detainee multiple times with an M-4 rifle."
However, in a memo issued to Mixon, the 25th Infantry Division commander, earlier this week, the staff judge advocate, Lt. Col. Martin Sims, said that the murder charge "is warranted by the evidence indicated in the report of the investigation."
Mixon approved the memo on Monday. The revised charge was issued the next day.
Shore's attorney, Michael Waddington of Augusta, said he didn't understand how Sims could justify a murder charge, based on the Article 32 report.
"In a case like this, where the Article 32 report was so strong and well documented, it is extraordinarily rare for the Army to contradict it," Waddington said.
"The evidence has not changed," he said. "They couldn't convince Colonel Gonzalez that Shore murdered the detainee. Now they're going to try to convince 12 people that he did. I'm disappointed, but I'm not scared."
Johnson, the brigade attorney, said Mixon was not bound by the investigating officer's report. The Article 32 recommendation, he said, was just that.
Johnson said Shore will probably be arraigned the first or second week of January, after which a trial date will be set.
December 20, 2007
Pg. 1
Georgian faces murder trial in Iraq death
By Moni Basu, Atlanta Journal-Constitution
The good news that a Winder soldier received last month soured this week as the Army decided to press ahead with murder charges.
In the case against Spc. Christopher P. Shore, the Army downgraded its initial charge of premeditated murder of an Iraqi detainee to murder in the third degree, which amounts to a manslaughter charge in the civilian world. The charge carries a maximum penalty of life in prison.
The decision goes against the recommendation made by an investigating officer who presided over an Article 32 hearing, the equivalent of a grand jury investigation. His report, released in November, determined the evidence against Shore did not warrant referral of the case to a court-martial.
But on Tuesday, Maj. Gen. Benjamin Mixon, commander of the Hawaii-based 25th Infantry Division, gave the green light for a murder trial.
Shore, 25, who returned from a 15-month tour of Iraq in October, maintained his innocence and expressed disappointment in the Army's decision. He said he had hoped to have the case wrapped up by now and go on with life, pursuing a career in the Army. Now, just a week before Christmas, the news was hard to take.
"I guess they're playing hardball," he said by telephone from his apartment in Honolulu.
Shore's father's reaction was much stronger.
"I'm mad as hell," said Brian Shore, who lives in Lawrenceville. "I love America, but the Army is not part of my country anymore. We had faith in the system."
Shore and his platoon sergeant, Sgt. 1st Class Trey A. Corrales of San Antonio, were accused of killing an Iraqi detainee during a nighttime raid last June in a village near the northern Iraqi city of Kirkuk.
At the Article 32 hearing in October, Shore told the investigating officer that Corrales ordered him to "finish" the Iraqi man, who was bleeding and down on the ground. Shore said he fired his rifle but intentionally missed the man and the next day reported the incident to his supervisors.
Corrales waived his right to an Article 32 hearing. Maj. Gary Johnson, the attorney for Shore's brigade, said no decision has been made on Corrales yet.
Lt. Col. Raul Gonzalez, the Article 32 investigating officer, recommended that the charges against Shore be reduced to aggravated assault.
Gonzalez said no evidence existed that linked the shots fired by Shore to the detainee's death. He said that "overwhelming evidence" showed that Corrales "did with intent to kill, shoot at and hit the detainee multiple times with an M-4 rifle."
However, in a memo issued to Mixon, the 25th Infantry Division commander, earlier this week, the staff judge advocate, Lt. Col. Martin Sims, said that the murder charge "is warranted by the evidence indicated in the report of the investigation."
Mixon approved the memo on Monday. The revised charge was issued the next day.
Shore's attorney, Michael Waddington of Augusta, said he didn't understand how Sims could justify a murder charge, based on the Article 32 report.
"In a case like this, where the Article 32 report was so strong and well documented, it is extraordinarily rare for the Army to contradict it," Waddington said.
"The evidence has not changed," he said. "They couldn't convince Colonel Gonzalez that Shore murdered the detainee. Now they're going to try to convince 12 people that he did. I'm disappointed, but I'm not scared."
Johnson, the brigade attorney, said Mixon was not bound by the investigating officer's report. The Article 32 recommendation, he said, was just that.
Johnson said Shore will probably be arraigned the first or second week of January, after which a trial date will be set.