Attorney: Soldier accused of murder 'was cracking'

Source: Kansas City Star

An Army sergeant charged with fatally shooting five service members at a combat stress clinic in Iraq does not deserve the death penalty, a defense attorney said Thursday, arguing his client's actions could not have been premeditated because of his deteriorating mental health.

Sgt. John Russell, 46, is accused of carrying out the deadliest act of soldier-on-soldier violence in the war in Iraq as he was nearing the end of his third tour in 2009. He's been charged with five counts of premeditated murder, two counts of attempted premeditated murder and one count of assault.

The government wants to pursue his prosecution as a capital case.

The Army concluded a four-day hearing Thursday on whether Russell should face a court martial. The presiding officer will recommend whether a trial should go forward or whether the charges should be modified or dismissed.


Read more: http://www.kansascity.com/2011/08/11/3070990/attorney-soldier-accused-of-murder.html

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Capital punishment for a 3 time combat soldier most likely suffering from PTSD. And this is the same government who sent him to fight times three!

If that's his defense, he's screwed unless he can prove no premeditation.

but it can be a trigger.

He should receive treatment, and not prosecution. Jails should be for the criminals and not the mentally ill...We need to be aware of this outcome to war. Let's bring them home...

don't put them to death.

Premeditated this outrage. He was cracking up. That is mental illness personified.

young people are trained to be killers and sent into hellish enviroments where they often lose their minds. If they survive, they are sent home damaged and dangerous to civil society, their families and themselves.
History is full of such stories and each generation we give it a different name. Shellshock, in WWI, Battle Fatique in WW2 and now PTSD.
War is a terrible business and we reap what we sow.

(and God knows how many women)

If they're ALL cracking, it's time to bring them home and provide care.

Jeebus, our "leaders" just don't get it. At all.

if enough of them then figure out who sent them and why,

well...

Or maybe our "leaders" are concerned because it's the families of those soldiers who will suffer the most when they start gutting the social safety nets.

Just what you need, a group of trained killers who won't sit by and watch their families suffer, and who might decide that change via the ballot box just isn't working!

Most of them were controlling the Predators from here in the US...so they're already home!