Death Penalty May Await Soldier in Afghan Killings

The US Army soldier who stands accused of gunning down and killing 16 Afghan civilians near the town of Kandahar might have just earned himself the death penalty for his crimes, according to a military defense attorney.

“Based on what we’re hearing I suspect this will be prosecuted as a death penalty case,” says Philip Cave, who is based in Washington. “You’ve got felony murder, and certainly the number of victims and the circumstances—very young children as victims—I think there will be sufficient grounds to move forward as a death penalty case.”

The suspect is reported to be a 38 year-old father of two, and is likely to undergo extensive psychological testing during the Article 32 investigation, a thorough inquiry that includes witness testimony. Following that will take place a military trial, and if a court-martial conviction decides on imposing the death penalty, President Obama himself will have to sign the death warrant for the solider with his own hand.

The solider would be the first executed by the military since John Bennett was hung in 1961 for the rape and attempted murder of an 11 year-old Austrian girl.

Retired Army platoon Sgt. Jonn Lilyea opined that people shouldn’t be so quick to blame such killings on simple deployments into the theater of war. “I’d wait to see if he really was in a position that would have affected him in this way,” Lilyea said. “But I’m more concerned people will try to use this like they did after Vietnam with the My Lai massacre and taint all combat veterans of this generation as if they were like this one guy.” Lilyea went on to say that millions of Americans have served in combat and done “terrible things”, but go on to lead normal and productive lives after service.