Monday, March 30, 2009

Mayo Gets 35 Years in Iraqi Detainee Plea Deal

Sgt. 1st Class Joseph Mayo pled guilty today and was sentenced to 35 years in prison in the shooting deaths of four Iraqi detainees in early 2007. See WaPo report here. As previously reported by us extensively, see here and here, Mayo was one of four NCOs that were implicated in the shooting deaths. Only Master Sgt. John E. Hatley has yet to face a trial, which according to the report is scheduled for April 2009.

Also, in court-martial news, the Sgt Ryan Weemer trial begins this week. See North County Times report here. Weemer along with two others, was accused of killing Iraqi civilians in Fallujah in 2004. One of the co-accused, Sgt. Luis Nazario, was acquitted in a federal MEJA trial last year.

According to one commenter, Col Michael Murphy's court-martial starts this week, or at least voir dire. Any confirmation on that?

3 comments:

Ama Goste said...

According to sources close to the lead prosecutor in the Murphy case, they pre-admitted exhibits on Friday and were to start with voir dire today. As the lead prosecutor isn't at her normal duty location today, I presume the case is going forward. (Yes, always a dangerous presumption, especially given this case's lengthy history.)

Anonymous said...

US v. Murphy begins today.

Sheldon Smalls said...

I read the paper every day and I watch the news every night; but, what I'm surprised to learn by reading this blog is how many court-martials there have been for war crimes in Iraq! It's really under played in the main stream media. I wonder if the media is not really highlighting these cases because of the economic situation and to support the war effort??