U.S. soldier convicted in iraqi killing

[Thirteen]

U.S. soldier convicted in Iraqi killing
Thursday, March 31, 2005 Posted: 7:26 AM EST (1226 GMT)
 
Maynulet maintained he shot the man to end his suffering.
 
WIESBADEN, Germany (AP) -- A military court on Thursday found a U.S. Army tank company commander guilty of charges related to the shooting death of a wounded Iraqi last year.

Capt. Rogelio "Roger" Maynulet stood at attention as Lt. Col. Laurence Mixon, the head of the six-member panel, read the verdict.

The court was to reconvene later Thursday to consider Maynulet's sentence. The charge -- assault with intent to commit voluntary manslaughter -- carries a maximum of 10 years in prison.

Prosecutors had sought a conviction on a more serious charge of assault with intent to commit murder that carried a 20-year maximum.

Maynulet, 30, maintained that the man was gravely wounded and he shot him to end his suffering.

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

They chased the vehicle and fired at it, wounding both the passenger, who fled and was later apprehended, and the driver. The killing was filmed by a U.S. drone surveillance aircraft.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

it's funny cause just last month i found out that the military's goal isn't to kill, it's to incapacitate... that's why it's illegal for these "mercy killing" and that the military doesn't use hollow points or any "more lethal" rounds

kind of amusing and ironic i think