Military Panel Convicts Soldier

A military court Thursday convicted a U.S. Army tank company commander of assault with intent to commit voluntary manslaughter in the shooting death of a wounded, unarmed Iraqi last year.

Capt. Rogelio “Roger” Maynulet faces as much as 10 years in prison. Prosecutors had sought conviction on a charge of assault with intent to commit murder, which carried a 20-year maximum.

Maynulet, 30, of Chicago, stood at attention as Lt. Col. Laurence Mixon, head of the six-member panel, read the verdict at the court-martial.

Mixon did not give reasons for the ruling, which followed 2 1/2 hours of deliberations by the panel, similar to a civilian jury.

At the sentencing hearing, Maynulet asked the court for leniency, occasionally struggling to keep his composure.

“I hope you can take into consideration my service, my attitude and my love for the Army before you make a decision,” Maynulet said. “I respect your decision. I wouldn’t want to be in your position. I think you did what you have to do.”

Maynulet’s 1st Armored Division tank company had been on patrol near Kufa, south of Baghdad, on May 21, 2004, when it was alerted to a car thought to be carrying a driver for radical cleric Muqtada Sadr and another militiaman loyal to the Shiite cleric, who led uprisings against U.S.-led forces in Iraq last year.

The company chased the vehicle and fired at it, wounding the passenger, who fled and was later apprehended, and the driver, whom Maynulet then shot to death.

Maynulet maintained that he shot the gravely wounded Iraqi to end his suffering.

The killing was videotaped by a U.S. drone surveillance aircraft.

The U.S. military has referred to the Iraqi driver only as an “unidentified paramilitary member,” but relatives named him as Karim Hassan, 36.

In closing arguments earlier Thursday, prosecutor Maj. John Rothwell said that Maynulet “played God” when he shot the wounded driver.

Maynulet’s lawyers have argued that his actions were in line with the Geneva Convention on the conduct of war.

Maynulet’s command was suspended May 25, but he has remained with his Wiesbaden-based unit.