Ga. soldier was ordered to murder detainee, court martial defense lawyer says in Hawaii court proceeding
Ga. soldier was ordered to murder detainee, court martial defense lawyer says
Compares platoon leader in Iraq to sadistic movie character
By MONI BASU
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Published on: 10/18/07
Honolulu, Hawaii — The military court martial defense lawyer for a Georgia soldier accused of murder argued Thursday that he was taking orders from a platoon leader not unlike the sadistic sergeant in the movie "Platoon."
Michael Waddington, an Augusta attorney representing Spc. Christopher P. Shore of Winder, said Sgt. 1st Class Trey A. Corrales was a maniacal man who "ruled his platoon with an iron fist."
He said Corrales ordered Shore to kill an Iraqi detainee but that his client deliberately missed the wounded man.
In a surprise move at Shore's Article 32 hearing, the military equivalent of a grand jury investigation, Waddington put his client on the stand to tell his account of what happened on a June night in Iraq.
"I did not try to kill him," Shore said, adding that it was a relief to be able to finally talk publicly about that night.
With the help of a mannequin's head and his fellow military counsel, Maj. Javier Rivera, lying on the courtroom floor, Waddington set out to prove that Shore could not have shot the detained man.
He said forensics evidence supported Shore's claims and argued that the fatal gunshot wounds could not have been inflicted by an automatic rifle at close range.
The Army accuses Shore, 25, a graduate of Winder-Barrow High School, and Corrales, 34, a native of San Antonio, of the premeditated murder of the Iraqi man, a charge that carries a maximum penalty life imprisonment.
Waddington said his client was framed by Corrales and is taking the fall for a crime he did not commit.
After the Article 32 hearings conclude next week, Maj. Gen. Benjamin Mixon, commander of the Hawaii-based 25th Infantry Division, will make a determination on whether the Army will forge ahead with a court martial for the two soldiers assigned to the division's Headquarters and Headquarters Company, 2nd Battalion, 35th Infantry Regiment.
Waddington used his time before investigating officer Lt. Col. Raul Gonzalez to portray Shore as a solid soldier who never displayed hysterical behavior. At the same time, he painted a picture of Corrales as an intimidating leader who was calm one minute and a raging maniac the next, much like Staff Sgt. Bob Barnes, the celluloid character played by Tom Berenger.
In the 1986 Oliver Stone film, Barnes orders the illegal killings of Vietnamese villagers after his unit, also in the 25th Infantry Division, suffers casualties. The week before the killing in Iraq, U.S. soldiers, whom Corrales knew, were killed after a bomb hit their Humvee.
"This case is strikingly similar to the movie 'Platoon' where Sergeant Barnes intimidated the entire platoon and pulled them apart," Waddington said.
Shore's scout platoon was called out of their forward operating base in the northern Iraqi city of Kirkuk to assist other soldiers involved in an early morning raid on June 23. They were clearing houses believed to be harboring insurgents who planted roadside bombs targeting Americans.
Several soldiers testified that Corrales had ordered his men to kill every military-age male.
Shore's platoon detained several men and tested their hands for explosives. Spc. Franklin Hambrick and Spc. Trinity Ison testified Thursday that Corrales threatened to shoot all the men who tested positive.
"'If he comes out pink, I'm going to kill him,'" Ison said recalling Corrales' statement about the testing material that turns pink if it picks up explosives residue.
Hambrick said Corrales told one of the detainees to run but the man didn't understand English so Corrales ordered the interpreter to say "run" in Arabic.
The man began backing up when Corrales raised his own weapon. Hambrick said that's when it sank in that something bad might happen.
Waddington argued that Corrales shot the man in the back yard of the house. He said Shore heard the shots and went outside and saw the man lying injured in a drainage ditch next to a small shed made out of mud.
Shore said he was afraid to disobey orders from Corrales to "finish him" so he fired off a few rounds, deliberately missing the profusely bleeding detainee. "I knew it was wrong," Shore said in an interview, of Corrales' order.
No witnesses said they saw the actual shooting. In the interview before the hearing, Shore described it as a "worst-case scenario of being at the wrong place at the wrong time."
Several soldiers said an AK-47 that belonged to the platoon's Iraqi interpreter was planted on the wounded man's body. They said they did not see who placed the "drop weapon."
Investigating officer Gonzalez repeatedly questioned the soldiers on whether Corrales intimidated or threatened them.
"In a sense of a subordinate working for the guy and not wanting to get fired, not lose my job because I was so close to everyone in my platoon," said Sgt. Robert Radle, choking up about how cohesive the platoon was.
Ten soldiers -- almost half the platoon -- died in a Black Hawk helicopter crash in August. Several were supposed to have been witnesses at the Article 32 proceedings.
Radle said he would not go to combat again with Corrales.
"I think some people can control their stress and maintain their discipline," Radle said. "He was the type of guy whose emotions would take over. He wouldn't think about the situation before he reacted. He would just go off."
Another soldier, Sgt. David Morgan-Benford, testified that Corrales had given shoot-to-kill orders on previous missions. The unit had been in Iraq since August 2006. The soldiers returned earlier this month.
Shore said he felt his fellow soldiers were still afraid to talk about Corrales, who faces his own Article 32 hearing on Monday.
"They were put on the spot," Shore said, visibly emotional after taking the stand. His testimony was not under oath and therefore cannot be used to incriminate him, Waddington said.
Waddington's first two witnesses -- Corrales and the battalion commander, Lt. Col. Michael Browder -- both invoked their right to remain silent on grounds that their statements might incriminate them and did not testify.
The Army relieved Browder of command but he has not been charged. Waddington said that being relieved of command while in the combat zone is serious and that he was still trying to find out more about Browder's role in what happened that night.
Waddington said he believed Browder and Corrales both wanted revenge for the deaths of several soldiers several days before the Kirkuk incident.
Corrales' attorney, Frank Spinner, spent the entire day listening to testimony but would not comment on the negative portrayal of his client or the strategy for his defense.
In the crowded courtroom, Shore, wearing his Army Combat Uniform, sat crouched between Waddington and Rivera, his military lawyer. He appeared relaxed, even smiling, and during breaks he chatted in hushed tones with several platoon mates who came to show their support.
Shore's father, Brian, of Lawrenceville, was the last sworn witness the defense called.
Those in the courtroom chuckled at Brian Shore's heavy Southern accent but listened intently as he described by phone his love for his son. And how he always wanted to become a soldier.
"I was very proud of him," the elder Shore said.
