Tuesday, February 17, 2009

Court Martial News - Updated

As CAAFlog previewed in TWIMJ, we'll be following the Nelson court martial at Pendleton this week. What we both missed was that the Sgt. Michael Leahy court martial will be convening in Vilseck, Germany this week, news here. Leahy is accused in the murders four Iraqi detainees outside of Baghdad in 2007 and another detainee earlier the same year.

The time difference between the two courthouses is approx. 12 hours, so we will do our best to give you an update that covers the same day's news for each--though I won't guarantee that.

Update: The trial of Sgt. Michael Leahy is underway in Germany, AP report here. According to reports, SSgt Jess Cunningham, who last week had all charges in the same incident dropped (report here), will testify against Sgt. Leahy. Cunningham reportedly sat in a HMMMV and refused to participate in the killings; then reported the incident 6 months later to military authorities (apparently at first to a TDC). According to the same report, defense counsel Frank Spinner objected to Cunningham being allowed to testify--though reports don't say what the issue about Cunningham's testimony had been or the basis for Spinner's objection beyond insufficient time to prepare for his testimony.

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