Team Infidel
Forum Spin Doctor
Fayetteville (NC) Observer
February 24, 2009
By Drew Brooks, Staff writer
The Fort Bragg soldier accused of killing and mutilating an unarmed Afghan said his commander jokingly asked if he had gotten the man’s ear after reporting the incident.
Master Sgt. Joseph Newell, 39, of Tecumseh, Mich., testified Monday that before he went back to the Afghan’s body the first time, Capt. James Walters jokingly said, “Hey, did you get the ear?”
Newell said the comment, followed by laughter, made him perturbed.
Newell, who was a team sergeant with the 2nd Battalion, 3rd Special Forces Group, said that when he returned with the unidentified man’s ear, Walters said, “OK, that’s better.”
Newell’s testimony came during the third day of his court-martial on Fort Bragg. If convicted, he could face life in prison.
Walters, who testified Friday, said he has no recollection of speaking to Newell on March
5, the day Newell is accused of killing the Afghan and then desecrating his body during combat operations near Hyderabad, Afghanistan.
Defense lawyers have argued that Newell shot the man out of self-defense and that the man was an insurgent, possibly a member of the Taliban.
Newell testified for more than three hours Monday. He said he shot the Afghan man because, after telling the man he would be taken into custody, the man clenched his fists and lunged toward him.
“It was the longest second of my life and the shortest second of my life,” Newell said.
“This was not an accidental discharge. I meant to shoot him,” Newell said.
He testified that he shot the man once and watched his eyes roll back. Then, he said, he shot the man again.
“The second shot wasn’t needed, but that’s what you do,” Newell said, referring to his training.
He said that after the shooting, he was reassured by Walters and by his gunner, Sgt. 1st Class Ricky Derring, that he had done the right thing. Both men previously testified and did not include the exchanges in their accounts of that day.
Newell said that when he approached Walters after the shooting, his superior officer jokingly asked, “Did you kill anybody yet?”
When Newell responded “Yes,” the conversation became serious, Newell said.
He said Walters told him to return to the body to make sure the man was dead. He was sent back again to hide the body.
Newell said the first time he returned to the body, he checked for a pulse and, finding none, cut off the man’s ear.
He said he had no explanation for cutting off the ear other than he didn’t want people to think he was afraid.
Newell said talk about cutting off ears is part of military folklore, but he said that he knew of no other instances in which members of his team had cut off ears.
“People talk about things like that,” he said. “I’m not blaming anyone for the fact that I did this.”
‘I don’t know’
Newell had no answer when asked again why he cut off the man’s ear and kept it on a shelf in his room.
“I don’t know. I could try to ramble to tell you … I don’t know,” he said.
Newell said he had many emotions running through his mind after the shooting. Others told him he appeared shaken immediately afterward, and he said he later became angry.
“I didn’t decide to shoot him,” Newell said. “He decided to have me shoot him.”
Newell said when he returned to the body a second time, Derring helped him move it into his vehicle. Derring denied that during his testimony Thursday.
Newell said he wanted to hide the body so that enemy forces wouldn’t “throw the kitchen sink at us.”
If there had been an attack on the way back to the base, Newell said he would have felt responsible.
According to testimony, Newell’s unit was responsible for about 200 insurgent deaths from the time it deployed in October 2007 until the March 5 incident. In none of those instances were the bodies of the slain moved or hidden.
The unidentified Afghan was detained after Newell and other soldiers stopped a vehicle while providing security for a convoy. Several of the convoy’s trucks were stuck in sand, and while they were being dug out, Newell said, radio chatter indicated that the soldiers were being watched. Newell said he was certain the chatter was coming from the truck the man was riding in before being detained.
During cross-examination, Newell demonstrated for the jury the movements that led to him shooting the Afghan. Facing the jurors, Newell stepped forward with his right leg while raising his right fist from his side to his chest.
“I thought I was going to be in great bodily harm,” Newell said. He said he intended to kill the man when he shot but he fired out of self-defense.
Newell is 5 feet 10 inches tall and would have weighed about 175 pounds at the time of the incident. He was wearing body armor and holding his rifle. The Afghan is estimated to have been in his early 20s, between 5
feet 5 inches and 5 feet 6 inches tall and weighed about 145 pounds. The man was never searched for weapons and was not wearing armor.
Character witnesses
After Newell’s testimony, defense lawyers called character witnesses.
Col. Sean Mulholland, Maj. John White and Sgt. Mike Helton said Newell was a “follow-me leader,” a good mentor and a great soldier.
“The Joe Newell that I know of was an honorable, professional soldier,” Mulholland said.
The military judge, Col. Patrick Parrish, did not allow testimony about leadership challenges before the March 5 incident.
While jurors were outside the courtroom, Helton testified that he thought Walters was a coward and that Newell, who had no Afghanistan experience, and the “S.F. babies” should have brought up the rear while Walters and other more experienced soldiers led.
“I thought the captain needed to be up front,” he said. “He always seemed to be lagging behind.”
Parrish ruled that the testimony would not be admitted because it was an attempt to undermine Walters through means that were not ethical by court rules.
Defense lawyer Todd Conormon argued unsuccessfully that leadership challenges and other stresses played a role in the incident.
“You can’t isolate the incident in a box,” he said.
According to several witnesses, Newell and his colleagues at Firebase Robinson routinely encountered improvised explosive devices or were attacked when they left the safety of the base.
The soldiers have described a city of roughly 10,000 located near the base as “Taliban City.”
Lawyers also argued over whether to allow testimony from Thomas Aveni, co-founder of The Police Policy Studies Council in Spofford, N.H. Aveni, who the defense hopes to have recognized as a use-of-force expert, is set to testify that he thinks Newell was justified in shooting the Afghan. Aveni studies police shootings, and the prosecution has argued that he does not have enough understanding of military rules and training.
Parrish will rule on whether to allow Aveni to testify in front of jurors before testimony resumes at 9 a.m. today.
February 24, 2009
By Drew Brooks, Staff writer
The Fort Bragg soldier accused of killing and mutilating an unarmed Afghan said his commander jokingly asked if he had gotten the man’s ear after reporting the incident.
Master Sgt. Joseph Newell, 39, of Tecumseh, Mich., testified Monday that before he went back to the Afghan’s body the first time, Capt. James Walters jokingly said, “Hey, did you get the ear?”
Newell said the comment, followed by laughter, made him perturbed.
Newell, who was a team sergeant with the 2nd Battalion, 3rd Special Forces Group, said that when he returned with the unidentified man’s ear, Walters said, “OK, that’s better.”
Newell’s testimony came during the third day of his court-martial on Fort Bragg. If convicted, he could face life in prison.
Walters, who testified Friday, said he has no recollection of speaking to Newell on March
5, the day Newell is accused of killing the Afghan and then desecrating his body during combat operations near Hyderabad, Afghanistan.
Defense lawyers have argued that Newell shot the man out of self-defense and that the man was an insurgent, possibly a member of the Taliban.
Newell testified for more than three hours Monday. He said he shot the Afghan man because, after telling the man he would be taken into custody, the man clenched his fists and lunged toward him.
“It was the longest second of my life and the shortest second of my life,” Newell said.
“This was not an accidental discharge. I meant to shoot him,” Newell said.
He testified that he shot the man once and watched his eyes roll back. Then, he said, he shot the man again.
“The second shot wasn’t needed, but that’s what you do,” Newell said, referring to his training.
He said that after the shooting, he was reassured by Walters and by his gunner, Sgt. 1st Class Ricky Derring, that he had done the right thing. Both men previously testified and did not include the exchanges in their accounts of that day.
Newell said that when he approached Walters after the shooting, his superior officer jokingly asked, “Did you kill anybody yet?”
When Newell responded “Yes,” the conversation became serious, Newell said.
He said Walters told him to return to the body to make sure the man was dead. He was sent back again to hide the body.
Newell said the first time he returned to the body, he checked for a pulse and, finding none, cut off the man’s ear.
He said he had no explanation for cutting off the ear other than he didn’t want people to think he was afraid.
Newell said talk about cutting off ears is part of military folklore, but he said that he knew of no other instances in which members of his team had cut off ears.
“People talk about things like that,” he said. “I’m not blaming anyone for the fact that I did this.”
‘I don’t know’
Newell had no answer when asked again why he cut off the man’s ear and kept it on a shelf in his room.
“I don’t know. I could try to ramble to tell you … I don’t know,” he said.
Newell said he had many emotions running through his mind after the shooting. Others told him he appeared shaken immediately afterward, and he said he later became angry.
“I didn’t decide to shoot him,” Newell said. “He decided to have me shoot him.”
Newell said when he returned to the body a second time, Derring helped him move it into his vehicle. Derring denied that during his testimony Thursday.
Newell said he wanted to hide the body so that enemy forces wouldn’t “throw the kitchen sink at us.”
If there had been an attack on the way back to the base, Newell said he would have felt responsible.
According to testimony, Newell’s unit was responsible for about 200 insurgent deaths from the time it deployed in October 2007 until the March 5 incident. In none of those instances were the bodies of the slain moved or hidden.
The unidentified Afghan was detained after Newell and other soldiers stopped a vehicle while providing security for a convoy. Several of the convoy’s trucks were stuck in sand, and while they were being dug out, Newell said, radio chatter indicated that the soldiers were being watched. Newell said he was certain the chatter was coming from the truck the man was riding in before being detained.
During cross-examination, Newell demonstrated for the jury the movements that led to him shooting the Afghan. Facing the jurors, Newell stepped forward with his right leg while raising his right fist from his side to his chest.
“I thought I was going to be in great bodily harm,” Newell said. He said he intended to kill the man when he shot but he fired out of self-defense.
Newell is 5 feet 10 inches tall and would have weighed about 175 pounds at the time of the incident. He was wearing body armor and holding his rifle. The Afghan is estimated to have been in his early 20s, between 5
feet 5 inches and 5 feet 6 inches tall and weighed about 145 pounds. The man was never searched for weapons and was not wearing armor.
Character witnesses
After Newell’s testimony, defense lawyers called character witnesses.
Col. Sean Mulholland, Maj. John White and Sgt. Mike Helton said Newell was a “follow-me leader,” a good mentor and a great soldier.
“The Joe Newell that I know of was an honorable, professional soldier,” Mulholland said.
The military judge, Col. Patrick Parrish, did not allow testimony about leadership challenges before the March 5 incident.
While jurors were outside the courtroom, Helton testified that he thought Walters was a coward and that Newell, who had no Afghanistan experience, and the “S.F. babies” should have brought up the rear while Walters and other more experienced soldiers led.
“I thought the captain needed to be up front,” he said. “He always seemed to be lagging behind.”
Parrish ruled that the testimony would not be admitted because it was an attempt to undermine Walters through means that were not ethical by court rules.
Defense lawyer Todd Conormon argued unsuccessfully that leadership challenges and other stresses played a role in the incident.
“You can’t isolate the incident in a box,” he said.
According to several witnesses, Newell and his colleagues at Firebase Robinson routinely encountered improvised explosive devices or were attacked when they left the safety of the base.
The soldiers have described a city of roughly 10,000 located near the base as “Taliban City.”
Lawyers also argued over whether to allow testimony from Thomas Aveni, co-founder of The Police Policy Studies Council in Spofford, N.H. Aveni, who the defense hopes to have recognized as a use-of-force expert, is set to testify that he thinks Newell was justified in shooting the Afghan. Aveni studies police shootings, and the prosecution has argued that he does not have enough understanding of military rules and training.
Parrish will rule on whether to allow Aveni to testify in front of jurors before testimony resumes at 9 a.m. today.