Officer Charged With Murder in August Incident
The U.S. military has charged an Army officer with murder for his part in the fatal shooting of an injured Iraqi man in Baghdad’s Sadr City slum in August, officials said Tuesday.
Army 2nd Lt. Erick Anderson was charged with premeditated murder and conspiracy to commit premeditated murder, according to a statement provided by Lt. Col. James Hutton, a spokesman for the 1st Cavalry Division in Baghdad. If tried and convicted in a U.S. military court, he could face the death penalty.
Military investigators had looked into whether Anderson authorized two subordinates, Staff Sgt. Cardenas Alban and Staff Sgt. Johnny Horne Jr., to shoot a grievously wounded young Iraqi man. Some U.S. military officials have referred to the incident as a mercy killing.
Alban and Horne were charged with murder in September.
The statement said: “The soldier is presumed innocent until and unless proven guilty.”
Hutton said the next step may be a hearing in which evidence is presented to an investigating officer, who then recommends whether to proceed to a court-martial.
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