Sergeant Says He’s Innocent In Iraqi Murder Case

FORT HOOD, Texas (AP) – An Army sergeant testified Wednesday that he shot at an unarmed Iraqi insurgent twice, hitting him at least once, because the wounded man was a threat.

Testifying for more than three hours in his court-martial, Sgt. Leonardo Trevino said he was innocent of premeditated murder and other charges stemming from the June killing after a firefight in Muqdadiyah, Iraq.

Trevino testified that after following a blood trail into a house, he thought the severely wounded insurgent was a threat because the flailing and combative man might be trying to trigger an explosive.

Trevino said that during the chaotic scene, someone yelled that the Iraqi had or was reaching for a gun, so Trevino shot him. When he asked where the Iraqi’s gun was, one soldier pulled out a gun and placed it on the floor, he said. But Trevino testified that he was disappointed in the implications that they had to cover something up, so he returned the soldier’s pistol.

After a medic arrived and said the insurgent was about to die, Trevino muttered that they should hurry but said he scoffed at the medic’s suggestion of suffocating the insurgent. Trevino said he then left the house to give a report to his superior. When Trevino returned, he said, he saw the man’s arm jerk then fired his gun a second time as a reaction without aiming or looking at the insurgent.

Trevino, a 1st Cavalry Division soldier from San Antonio testifying on the first day of the defense case, could face life in prison if convicted of premeditated murder, attempted murder, obstruction of justice and solicitation to commit murder.

Asked by his attorney whether he committed those crimes, Trevino said, “No, I did not.”

Trevino said Wednesday that the insurgent did not have a pistol, but he said he was never worried when questioned by Army investigators “because all those shots were legit.”

Under cross-examination, Trevino said he saw that the insurgent’s arm was broken and he had numerous gunshot wounds, and that he did not feel the man was a threat after the medic arrived. He also said several U.S. and Iraqi soldiers were walking around the room but said any explosives did not have to be in that room to be detonated.

Trevino acknowledged that he told two soldiers in the room that “I don’t want this to come back on you,” saying he meant that he did not want them to have the responsibility of guarding a dangerous insurgent or possibility of having to shoot him.

A key prosecution witness, Pvt. Tristan Miller, testified earlier that Trevino said those exact words before he shot the insurgent in the abdomen, then directed another soldier to drop a gun by the man and invented the story that the Iraqi was armed.

Earlier Wednesday, an Army investigator testified that the pistol allegedly used to kill the insurgent was not found in Trevino’s room until a few weeks after the initial search – when others had access to the room.

Mickey Nogle, a special agent for the Army’s Criminal Investigative Division, said he would not have missed the weapon while searching Trevino’s room after he was taken into custody.

Sgt. Mark Howard said he found the gun in a backpack at the front of the room a few weeks later while collecting Trevino’s belongings. Howard said other people, including some soldiers who turned Trevino in, had access to his room.

“I found it kind of strange that all of a sudden there was a (pistol in the) pack in his room,” Nogle testified, referring to his reaction to Howard’s discovery.

Nogle also testified about his three lengthy interviews with Miller. Nogle said Miller never told him or wrote in his statements that he kicked a pillow off the man’s arm and saw he was unarmed – which he had told jurors. But under cross-examination, he said Miller stated several times that the insurgent was not a threat.

“We needed to know what kind of threat level they were under by the insurgent in that room,” Nogle told the military jury.

Two soldiers testified that they believed Miller was untruthful. Another medic, Spc. Buddy Stratton, testified that another soldier who later turned Trevino in appeared to fake heat stroke symptoms after Trevino ordered him to do exercises as punishment for some infractions.

Spc. Stephen Patterson testified that he took pictures of the two insurgents’ bodies that night, a common practice by U.S. soldiers to document evidence. He said he was outside the house that night and heard two gunshots that seemed to come from inside.

In March the medic, Spc. John Torres was acquitted of attempted premeditated murder and dereliction of duty for failing to provide aid. In another trial in March, Cpl. Justin Whiteman, accused of placing the pistol by the insurgent’s body, was acquitted of accessory after the fact to attempted premeditated murder and with dereliction of duty.

(Copyright 2008 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)