Jeremy Morlock, U.S. Soldier, Sentenced To 24 Years In Prison After Pleading Guilty T

[High_Gravity]

Jeremy Morlock, U.S. Soldier, Sentenced To 24 Years In Prison After Pleading Guilty To Murders Of 3 Afghans

JOINT BASE LEWIS-MCCHORD, Wash. — A U.S. soldier who pleaded guilty Wednesday to the murders of three Afghan civilians was sentenced to 24 years in prison after saying "the plan was to kill people" in a conspiracy with four fellow soldiers.

Military judge Lt. Col. Kwasi Hawks said he initially intended to sentence Spc. Jeremy Morlock to life in prison with possibility of parole but was bound by the plea deal.

Morlock, the first of five soldiers from the 5th Stryker Brigade to be court-martialed in the case, will receive 352 days off of his sentence for time served and could be eligible for parole in about seven years, said his lead attorney, Frank Spinner. He will be dishonorably discharged as part of his sentence.

The 22-year-old Morlock is a key figure in a war crimes probe that has raised some of the most serious criminal allegations to come from the war in Afghanistan. Army investigators accused him of taking a lead role in the killings of three unarmed Afghan men in Kandahar province in January, February and May 2010.

His sentencing Wednesday came hours after he pleaded guilty to three counts of murder, and one count each of conspiracy, obstructing justice and illegal drug use at his court martial at Joint Base Lewis-McChord, south of Seattle.

Under his plea deal, he has agreed to testify against his co-defendants.

Asked by the judge whether the plan was to shoot at people to scare them, or to shoot to kill, Morlock replied, "The plan was to kill people."

Speaking to reporters after the sentencing, Spinner read a statement prepared by Morlock in which the soldier apologized for the pain he had caused his victims' families and the people of Afghanistan and asked for forgiveness from his fellow soldiers.

Spinner speculated that "morale problems and discipline problems" in Morlock's brigade created an environment that contributed to the killings – an argument the defense presented in court through the testimony of sociologist and war crimes expert Stjepan Mestrovic.

Jeremy Morlock, U.S. Soldier, Sentenced To 24 Years In Prison After Pleading Guilty To Murders Of 3 Afghans

 

[Ropey]

Good. This is the proof of a healthy military. Others will think twice before creating criminal acts.

 

[The Infidel]

Good. This is the proof of a healthy military. Others will think twice before creating criminal acts.

Problem is... Rolling Stone and Dir Spittle had an agenda.

 

[High_Gravity]

Good. This is the proof of a healthy military. Others will think twice before creating criminal acts.

I hope so Ropey, what concerns me is that these guys got away with killing innocent Afghans for a while, the youngest Soldier told his father what was going on after the first killing and he alerted the Army and nothing was done, this all could have been stopped before it got this far. What worries me is that in all these men, the person with the most sense was a young buck 18 Year old Private.

 

[Shogun]

Stanford prison experiment - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

 

[High_Gravity]

Stanford prison experiment - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Interesting stuff, there is a movie about that too with Forest Whitaker.

 

[ogibillm]

24 years for the premeditated killing of 3 innocent civilians?

that's a hell of a plea bargain.

 

[Shogun]

Stanford prison experiment - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Interesting stuff, there is a movie about that too with Forest Whitaker.

While I always thought Zimbardo was a walking douche nozzle while I was in college, his notorious experiment does more to explain instances like the above (and abu graib for that matter) than insinuated finger pointing at the military in general. Human beings are susceptible to environmental influence and it's sad that these men, though paying for a crime against humanity, will pay this tab with chunks of their lives.

 

[Sallow]

24 years for the premeditated killing of 3 innocent civilians?

that's a hell of a plea bargain.

How much time did Lt. Calley serve?

 

[Article 15]

Stanford prison experiment - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Interesting stuff, there is a movie about that too with Forest Whitaker.

I saw that flick a few months back and enjoyed it.

 

[Sallow]

Good. This is the proof of a healthy military. Others will think twice before creating criminal acts.

Hopefully.

 

[Shogun]

Good. This is the proof of a healthy military. Others will think twice before creating criminal acts.

Hopefully.

doubtful. There will be another circumstance in which we cope with similar behavior by A) insisting that war is hell and that sometimes innocent people die. and/or B) Blaming our military for the environment that we put them in won't win a war.

If we come to understand the predictable dynamic at work here then it will be no surprise when another circumstance like this happens. The tragedy, beyond the loss of innocent life, is the life also lost by those less innocent.

 

[martybegan]

24 years for the premeditated killing of 3 innocent civilians?

that's a hell of a plea bargain.

they got him to roll on his co-defendants. I have a feeling thier sentences will be far more harsh.

 

[ogibillm]

24 years for the premeditated killing of 3 innocent civilians?

that's a hell of a plea bargain.

How much time did Lt. Calley serve?

point taken. but i'd like to think we've learned some things since then

(although i'll point out that the military got Calley's sentence right - life imprisonment with hard labor but public outcry got him off)

 

[High_Gravity]

Stanford prison experiment - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Interesting stuff, there is a movie about that too with Forest Whitaker.

While I always thought Zimbardo was a walking douche nozzle while I was in college, his notorious experiment does more to explain instances like the above (and abu graib for that matter) than insinuated finger pointing at the military in general. Human beings are susceptible to environmental influence and it's sad that these men, though paying for a crime against humanity, will pay this tab with chunks of their lives.

You are right its definently not just the Military that are vulnerable to this, case in point the cases of Police Brutality in this country as well.

 

[The Gadfly]

24 years for the premeditated killing of 3 innocent civilians?

that's a hell of a plea bargain.

How much time did Lt. Calley serve?

point taken. but i'd like to think we've learned some things since then

(although i'll point out that the military got Calley's sentence right - life imprisonment with hard labor but public outcry got him off)

The thing that amazed me with the Calley affair, was that most people in the military were far harsher than the general public in their opinions of what Calley did (and failed to do). From what we know, this is a very different situation in several ways, These guys carefully planned their killings. Calley and his platoon didn't go into My Lai planning to kill everyone they encountered; but once the shooting started Calley (a marginal officer at best) joined in with the most undisciplined men in a poorly disciplined platoon, then actively encourage them. Whatever the orders (and it is likely a lot of the adults in My Lai were in fact VC sympathizers), he had a duty to stop what was going on as soon as it was obvious these people were not a threat (and by the usual standard (common sense) there was no threat). I tend to believe Capt. Medina's version of the orders he gave his platoon leaders, because that way of phrasing it would have been pretty common for an op in a free-fire zone at the time. Calley likely heard what he wanted to hear, and acted accordingly. I don't know if anyone who wasn't on the ground at My Lai IV that day really knows exactly how it went down. All the same it was fairly easy for the general public at the time to consider Calley a scapegoat who carried out an ambiguous order; I lean to th opinion that Calley, either through inattentiveness or willful neglect, misunderstood a valid order, and violated it.

These guys, on the other hand, actually deliberately and systematically planned what they did, which in my view makes them a lot worse than Calley in everything but the sheer amount of killing. What boggles my mind is that their superiors failed to notice anything out of the ordinary. That's hard to believe; somewhere along the line, these men had to have done something that raised a red flag..or should have. Command negligence, again? Could be, though it may be difficult or impossible to prove it.