Team Infidel
Forum Spin Doctor
San Antonio Express-News
April 30, 2008 By Scott Huddleston
FORT HOOD – A military jury got its first look Tuesday at a photo of the mangled, bullet-riddled body of a young man at the center of the murder trial of a San Antonio soldier.
Testimony indicated the man, whose name is unknown, had links to al-Qaida, but his death last summer in Iraq could cost Sgt. Leonardo Treviño his military career and possibly result in a life jail sentence if Treviño is convicted of premeditated murder.
Military prosecutors rested their case after calling six witnesses who each provided pieces of a puzzle that may link Treviño to war crimes. Defense lawyers pointed to inconsistencies and tried to shake the credibility of the prosecution's star witness.
“You are making every effort you can to help the government in this case, aren't you?” Richard Stevens, lead defense counsel, asked Tristan Miller as he grilled the 20-year-old private.
Miller has given some of the most incriminating testimony, saying he saw Treviño shoot the insurgent in the torso then fabricate a story that it was self-defense. Government lawyers have accused Treviño of killing the man and ordering another soldier to drop a pistol by the body, instead of giving aid as required under rules of engagement.
Although Miller said he initially kicked a pillow away from the man's arm, thinking he might have a weapon, he said he realized “he was just some messed-up dude who was scared out of his mind.”
The seven-member jury saw a photo of the man taken after he was dragged into the street by Iraqi soldiers. The man, identified only as “a male detainee of apparent Middle Eastern descent,” was wearing pants and a blue-and-white pullover shirt.
The case centers on what occurred inside a 10-by-15-foot room in a house in Thura, a neighborhood near Baghdad, last June 26. Part of the government's case is based on an aerial photo of the area, with markers showing where, according to Miller, a firefight occurred before he and others found the man in the house.
But the actual firefight occurred about two blocks from the spot Miller had indicated.
“I was mistaken, sir,” Miller told Stevens, who pointed out the error during cross-examination.
Also testifying was Spc. John Torres, a medic who determined the man was too far gone to help. Torres said he lightly held his hand over the man's mouth after Treviño told him to suffocate him, to quicken his death.
“How can I speed this up?” Treviño asked, according to Torres.
“I guess you could smother him,” Torres replied.
“Do it,” Treviño said.
But the man kept breathing. As Torres walked away, he heard a gunshot. When he turned around, Treviño had his arm extended and was holding his service pistol.
Sgt. James E. Delauder said Treviño later told him he had killed the man. Defense lawyers have said that Delauder's testimony, like that of other witnesses, doesn't prove beyond a reasonable doubt that Treviño broke the law, partly because no one came forward until two months after the incident.
April 30, 2008 By Scott Huddleston
FORT HOOD – A military jury got its first look Tuesday at a photo of the mangled, bullet-riddled body of a young man at the center of the murder trial of a San Antonio soldier.
Testimony indicated the man, whose name is unknown, had links to al-Qaida, but his death last summer in Iraq could cost Sgt. Leonardo Treviño his military career and possibly result in a life jail sentence if Treviño is convicted of premeditated murder.
Military prosecutors rested their case after calling six witnesses who each provided pieces of a puzzle that may link Treviño to war crimes. Defense lawyers pointed to inconsistencies and tried to shake the credibility of the prosecution's star witness.
“You are making every effort you can to help the government in this case, aren't you?” Richard Stevens, lead defense counsel, asked Tristan Miller as he grilled the 20-year-old private.
Miller has given some of the most incriminating testimony, saying he saw Treviño shoot the insurgent in the torso then fabricate a story that it was self-defense. Government lawyers have accused Treviño of killing the man and ordering another soldier to drop a pistol by the body, instead of giving aid as required under rules of engagement.
Although Miller said he initially kicked a pillow away from the man's arm, thinking he might have a weapon, he said he realized “he was just some messed-up dude who was scared out of his mind.”
The seven-member jury saw a photo of the man taken after he was dragged into the street by Iraqi soldiers. The man, identified only as “a male detainee of apparent Middle Eastern descent,” was wearing pants and a blue-and-white pullover shirt.
The case centers on what occurred inside a 10-by-15-foot room in a house in Thura, a neighborhood near Baghdad, last June 26. Part of the government's case is based on an aerial photo of the area, with markers showing where, according to Miller, a firefight occurred before he and others found the man in the house.
But the actual firefight occurred about two blocks from the spot Miller had indicated.
“I was mistaken, sir,” Miller told Stevens, who pointed out the error during cross-examination.
Also testifying was Spc. John Torres, a medic who determined the man was too far gone to help. Torres said he lightly held his hand over the man's mouth after Treviño told him to suffocate him, to quicken his death.
“How can I speed this up?” Treviño asked, according to Torres.
“I guess you could smother him,” Torres replied.
“Do it,” Treviño said.
But the man kept breathing. As Torres walked away, he heard a gunshot. When he turned around, Treviño had his arm extended and was holding his service pistol.
Sgt. James E. Delauder said Treviño later told him he had killed the man. Defense lawyers have said that Delauder's testimony, like that of other witnesses, doesn't prove beyond a reasonable doubt that Treviño broke the law, partly because no one came forward until two months after the incident.