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4 soldiers may face death penalty

By The Associated Press and The Washington Post
Sunday, September 3, 2006 - Page updated at 12:00 AM

WASHINGTON — An Army investigator has recommended four soldiers accused of murder in a raid in Iraq should face the death penalty, according to a report obtained Saturday.

Lt. Col. James Daniel Jr. concluded the slayings were premeditated and warranted the death sentence based on evidence he heard at an August hearing. The case will be forwarded to Army officials, who will decide whether the recommendation should be followed.

The soldiers, all from the Fort Campbell, Ky.-based 101st Airborne Division's 187th Infantry Regiment, are accused of killing three Iraqi men taken from a house May 9 on an island outside Samarra, about 60 miles north of Baghdad.

Military executions are rare. The last soldier to be put to death — for rape and attempted murder of a child while he was stationed in Germany — was hanged in 1961.

In a report dated Aug. 31, Army investigator Lt. Col. James Daniel Jr. recommended that three of the soldiers — Staff Sgt. Raymond Girouard, Spc. William Hunsaker and Pfc. Corey Clagett — be charged with conspiring to commit premeditated murder of the detainees and then threatening another soldier not to tell anyone about it.

Daniel found that Spc. Juston Graber withdrew from the conspiracy but should face charges of murder for following Girouard's order to shoot a detainee in the head.

In light of aggravating factors, Daniel wrote, the soldiers' alleged offense "warrants a sentence of death," should they be found guilty.

The soldiers maintain that they acted in self-defense after the detainees resisted and that they had been ordered, before the raid on what they were told was an al-Qaida training camp, to kill all military-age males they came across, attorneys for the soldiers said Saturday.

Paul Bergrin, Clagett's civilian attorney, said he was surprised Daniel recommended the case be taken to trial at all.

Michael Waddington, an attorney for Hunsaker, said, "I was really shocked to see that on all of them," referring to the death-penalty finding.

The attorneys said their clients and the two other soldiers plan to plead not guilty.

Material from the Los Angeles Times is included in this report.

Copyright © 2006 The Seattle Times Company

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