Friends testify at fragging trial of soldier

[unhappycamper]

Friends testify at fragging trial of soldier
The Associated Press
Posted : Friday Oct 19, 2007 5:28:53 EDT

FORT BRAGG, N.C. — High school friends and family members of a soldier charged with killing his superior officers in Iraq described him Thursday as a hardworking but immature happy-go-lucky jokester.

The testimony came as an investigative hearing resumed in the case of Army Staff Sgt. Alberto Martinez, the only soldier charged with killing his commanding officer since the start of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. The 40-year-old from Troy, N.Y., faces a possible death sentence if convicted of setting off several grenades and a mine in one of Saddam Hussein’s former palaces near Tikrit, Iraq.

The June 2005 blast, initially blamed on a mortar round, killed Martinez’s company commander, Capt. Phillip Esposito, 30, of Suffern, N.Y., and 1st Lt. Louis Allen, 34, of Milford, Pa., the unit’s operations officer.

Friend Mary Gully said Martinez could not speak much English when he arrived at their Troy high school from Puerto Rico, but that she and her friends hung out with him because of his sense of humor.

~snip~

Thursday’s hearing continues an earlier Article 32, the military equivalent of a civilian grand jury proceeding, to consider the charges against Martinez. In September, a judge ordered the hearing so the defense could present mitigating evidence, which might include details of Martinez’s mental capacity.

Along with two counts of premeditated murder, he is also charged with illegally giving government printers and copiers to an Iraqi and illegally possessing a firearm, alcohol and explosives.


Rest of article at: http://www.armytimes.com/news/2007/10/ap_iraq_officerskilled_071018/

[NYVet]

1. "An immature happy-go-lucky jokester"

Sorry, but I missed the punchline when he murdered 2 people.