Posted on Nov 19, 2014
Military court weighing fate of condemned soldier. What Are Your Thoughts?
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From: Army Times
A former U.S. soldier sentenced to death for killing two fellow soldiers and injuring 14 others in an attack in Kuwait is pinning his hopes of staying alive on an argument jurors should have never seen his diary.
Attorneys for 43-year-old Hasan K. Akbar argued on Tuesday that the one-time sergeant's writings, which include details of how he converted to radical Islam, were so inflammatory, that without the proper context, jurors were most likely to focus on the most damaging parts while considering whether to impose a death sentence.
"They didn't present the information in any meaningful way," said Lt. Col. John Potter, a military lawyer arguing the case for Akbar before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Armed Forces in Washington.
Akbar was with the 326th Engineer Battalion of the 101st Airborne Division based at Fort Campbell, Kentucky, when he was sentenced to death in 2005. He killed Army Capt. Christopher S. Seifert and Air Force Maj. Gregory L. Stone in Kuwait two years earlier during the early days of the Iraq war.
Prosecutors say he threw four hand grenades into tents as members of his division slept, then fired his rifle at soldiers in the ensuing chaos on March 23, 2003. A military jury at Fort Bragg, North Carolina, convicted Akbar and handed down the sentence. The military has not carried out an execution since 1961. Akbar is one of five ex-soldiers facing a death sentence, the only one for actions in the Iraq war.
Potter told the judges the defense failed to prepare witnesses and errantly let jurors see Akbar's diary, which contained multiple anti-American passages.
Potter said allowing the jury to read the diary "eviscerated the defense in any meaningful way."
"We think the diary, there's no tactical reason to submit the diary," Potter said.
In one entry dated Feb. 23, 2002, Akbar wrote that he believed staying in the Army would eventually lead him to prison.
"I had a premonition that if I re-enlisted I would find myself in jail. That is probably true because I already want to kill several of them," Akbar wrote of his fellow soldiers.
The judges hearing the case focused on how the diary fit into the rest of the defense strategy, asking whether attorneys did anything to put the passages in the context of Akbar's pre-military life or any mental issues he may have had.
Potter noted that the defense put on 38 minutes of mitigation evidence and argument and didn't present any testimony from his family to humanize him. Instead, the lawyers failed by letting jurors pick through the diary and focus on the passages that left their client in the worst possible light.
Prosecutors said Akbar's defense attorneys acted in his best interest to try and prevent a death sentence from being issued in one of the "most egregious offenses in modern military history." The defense attorneys focused on the most viable arguments and witnesses, Maj. Kenneth Borgnino said.
Prosecutors noted that much of Akbar's family likely wouldn't have made a good impression on the witness stand.
The judges did not indicate when a ruling would be issued.
http://www.armytimes.com/story/military/crime/2014/11/19/akbar-appeal-111914/19265341/
A former U.S. soldier sentenced to death for killing two fellow soldiers and injuring 14 others in an attack in Kuwait is pinning his hopes of staying alive on an argument jurors should have never seen his diary.
Attorneys for 43-year-old Hasan K. Akbar argued on Tuesday that the one-time sergeant's writings, which include details of how he converted to radical Islam, were so inflammatory, that without the proper context, jurors were most likely to focus on the most damaging parts while considering whether to impose a death sentence.
"They didn't present the information in any meaningful way," said Lt. Col. John Potter, a military lawyer arguing the case for Akbar before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Armed Forces in Washington.
Akbar was with the 326th Engineer Battalion of the 101st Airborne Division based at Fort Campbell, Kentucky, when he was sentenced to death in 2005. He killed Army Capt. Christopher S. Seifert and Air Force Maj. Gregory L. Stone in Kuwait two years earlier during the early days of the Iraq war.
Prosecutors say he threw four hand grenades into tents as members of his division slept, then fired his rifle at soldiers in the ensuing chaos on March 23, 2003. A military jury at Fort Bragg, North Carolina, convicted Akbar and handed down the sentence. The military has not carried out an execution since 1961. Akbar is one of five ex-soldiers facing a death sentence, the only one for actions in the Iraq war.
Potter told the judges the defense failed to prepare witnesses and errantly let jurors see Akbar's diary, which contained multiple anti-American passages.
Potter said allowing the jury to read the diary "eviscerated the defense in any meaningful way."
"We think the diary, there's no tactical reason to submit the diary," Potter said.
In one entry dated Feb. 23, 2002, Akbar wrote that he believed staying in the Army would eventually lead him to prison.
"I had a premonition that if I re-enlisted I would find myself in jail. That is probably true because I already want to kill several of them," Akbar wrote of his fellow soldiers.
The judges hearing the case focused on how the diary fit into the rest of the defense strategy, asking whether attorneys did anything to put the passages in the context of Akbar's pre-military life or any mental issues he may have had.
Potter noted that the defense put on 38 minutes of mitigation evidence and argument and didn't present any testimony from his family to humanize him. Instead, the lawyers failed by letting jurors pick through the diary and focus on the passages that left their client in the worst possible light.
Prosecutors said Akbar's defense attorneys acted in his best interest to try and prevent a death sentence from being issued in one of the "most egregious offenses in modern military history." The defense attorneys focused on the most viable arguments and witnesses, Maj. Kenneth Borgnino said.
Prosecutors noted that much of Akbar's family likely wouldn't have made a good impression on the witness stand.
The judges did not indicate when a ruling would be issued.
http://www.armytimes.com/story/military/crime/2014/11/19/akbar-appeal-111914/19265341/
Death Penalty
Kuwait
UCMJ
Posted 10 y ago
Responses: 487
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We need to throw a slaughtered pig on top of his casket. May you rot in hell you heathen.
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The diary would have made no difference to me were I on the jury. The overwhelming facts were that he killed two and wounded fourteen. I don't care if his reason was religious, political or he got out of the wrong side of the bed. It was fratricide that should have been dealt with swiftly, for good order and discipline, as a deterren, and as justice for the families of the dead, the wounded and all the service members who were there and then had to mount an invasion while still grieving and having their head space and timing messed up because of it. Not to mention that death is the prescribed punishment under the UCMJ for his crime.
As a Lieutenant for the Ohio Department of Rehabilitations and Corrections I was very familiar with the conditions that death row and supermax inmates were housed in. It's a terrible way to live but many inmates are happy to be living in those conditions rather than being executed. They get a religiously appropriate diet, you aren't supposed to touch their Quran or prayer rug, it's all about their rights. The problem is, no matter how you try to keep them from hurting prison staff, they have 24 hours a day to figure out how they can. They mix feces, urine and caustic substances and throw it through cuff ports/food slots to try to get it in eyes and mouths. They break the razor off disposable razors and melt it into toothbrushes to slash staff. They break off the razor and hide it in their mouth to do the same. They make shanks out of almost anything. They are also very manipulative and prey on week staff members for favors. They take their time to befriend them and gain their trust and then they can get them to bring in cell phones to coordinate escapes, tools to escape or maim staff etc.. I could go on and on, but the bottom line is they pose a danger to prison staff and everyone else should they escape and that's unacceptable If it's because we are wasting time and money on endless appeals. They should get a fair trial, one appeal and then the sentence should be carried out. And for those that worry about giving him what he wants and making him a martyr, I have no problem with a firing squad with bullets covered in pig fat, then let him know he won't be clean enough to meet his Allah and let the world know how it was done to deter any more of the same type of attacks. I don't think that would betray our legal system by being cruel and unusual. May as well put Major Nidal Hasan (Fort Hood shooter) next to him for the same treatment!!!
It sure felt good to bash the hell out of the keys while I wrote this, but my blood is still boiling and I know I won't get to sleep for hours...
As a Lieutenant for the Ohio Department of Rehabilitations and Corrections I was very familiar with the conditions that death row and supermax inmates were housed in. It's a terrible way to live but many inmates are happy to be living in those conditions rather than being executed. They get a religiously appropriate diet, you aren't supposed to touch their Quran or prayer rug, it's all about their rights. The problem is, no matter how you try to keep them from hurting prison staff, they have 24 hours a day to figure out how they can. They mix feces, urine and caustic substances and throw it through cuff ports/food slots to try to get it in eyes and mouths. They break the razor off disposable razors and melt it into toothbrushes to slash staff. They break off the razor and hide it in their mouth to do the same. They make shanks out of almost anything. They are also very manipulative and prey on week staff members for favors. They take their time to befriend them and gain their trust and then they can get them to bring in cell phones to coordinate escapes, tools to escape or maim staff etc.. I could go on and on, but the bottom line is they pose a danger to prison staff and everyone else should they escape and that's unacceptable If it's because we are wasting time and money on endless appeals. They should get a fair trial, one appeal and then the sentence should be carried out. And for those that worry about giving him what he wants and making him a martyr, I have no problem with a firing squad with bullets covered in pig fat, then let him know he won't be clean enough to meet his Allah and let the world know how it was done to deter any more of the same type of attacks. I don't think that would betray our legal system by being cruel and unusual. May as well put Major Nidal Hasan (Fort Hood shooter) next to him for the same treatment!!!
It sure felt good to bash the hell out of the keys while I wrote this, but my blood is still boiling and I know I won't get to sleep for hours...
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CW2 Ernest Krutzsch
I believe, If you do the Crime, you serve the time. I also believe that once you are convicted, you lose all rights and privileges. I should not have to provide you with your religious food requirements, or any other special consideration (I especially don't think we should pay for transgender assimilation. Prison is supposed to be a punishment, you go in as a male, think you are a female, Oh well, sucks to be you! No gyms, libraries, maybe if we made prison undesirable, people wouldn't keep returning
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MCPO Katrina Hutcherson
CW2 Ernest Krutzsch - I agree, but Inmates have sued for their rights and almost always win. Prisons have to have law libraries and inmates have plenty of time to read and teach themselves to become jailhouse lawyers. We are way to PC to interfere with religious rights. We always had to provide Muslims with special fasting diets during Ramadan, let them come eat outside chow hours so they could eat before sunrise and again after sunset, and then they got a special feast when Ramadan was over to celebrate Eid? We had to pay kitchen staff overtime to facilitate all of it and a lot of them only became practicing Muslims during Ramadan to get special treatment and the feast. White supremesists sued for the right to practice an old Norse religion with the old gods Thor, Loki and Freyr etc., but it's really just a cover for a prison gang so they can meet (to pray) and plan their illegal activities. But trying to better themselves through religion was encouraged for rehabilitation. I watched the majority of repeat offenders come to prison and start reading the bible, Quran. Tora, whatever because that behavior was reported to the parole board and was weighed in their favor. Then they would get out and commit heinous crimes and start the charade all over again.
I'm a fan of Maricopa Counties Sheriff Joe Arpaio who has a program that saves abused animals, they are pampered in converted cells with A/C while the Inmates live outside in tents. He spends more to feed the dogs than the inmates. He loves to remind them when they complain about heat that our service members are in worse heat wearing full battle rattle (I actually was jealous of the inmates I supervised while I was deployed to Kuwait in 2003 because I lived in a festival tent with 88 men and only 3 women in a filthy, toxic industrial complex and oil refinery at the port of Ash Shwayba). He also makes them wear pink boxers and t-shirts, re-instituted chain gangs and when they won the right to have cable, he complied but only provided them with the weather channel and the Disney channel. The recidivism rates in his jail are significantly lower than the national average and that's how prisons should work!
http://www.prisonlawblog.com/blog/sheriff-joe-arpaios-strategic-plan-lowing-recidivism-rate-maracopa-county-arizona#.VlUfiu9v_7F.mailto
I'm a fan of Maricopa Counties Sheriff Joe Arpaio who has a program that saves abused animals, they are pampered in converted cells with A/C while the Inmates live outside in tents. He spends more to feed the dogs than the inmates. He loves to remind them when they complain about heat that our service members are in worse heat wearing full battle rattle (I actually was jealous of the inmates I supervised while I was deployed to Kuwait in 2003 because I lived in a festival tent with 88 men and only 3 women in a filthy, toxic industrial complex and oil refinery at the port of Ash Shwayba). He also makes them wear pink boxers and t-shirts, re-instituted chain gangs and when they won the right to have cable, he complied but only provided them with the weather channel and the Disney channel. The recidivism rates in his jail are significantly lower than the national average and that's how prisons should work!
http://www.prisonlawblog.com/blog/sheriff-joe-arpaios-strategic-plan-lowing-recidivism-rate-maracopa-county-arizona#.VlUfiu9v_7F.mailto
Sheriff Joe Arpaio’s Strategic Plan for Lowering the Recidivism Rate in Maracopa County, Arizona
By Dianne Frazee-WalkerSherriff Joe Arpaio is a controversial public figure known for his “tough on crime” policy.Many folks are not fond of Sheriff Joe, but despite that every year he is reelected by people of Maricopa County in Phoenix, Arizona. The reason for Apraio’s unpopular status with a portion of the population is his aggressive approach to illegal immigration and tent city where the inmates live in tents and wear pink underwear...
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To me Religion per say isn't at play.What I mean is if he converted to another religion and it went against his new beliefs,than why didn't he simply not reenlist or take a hardship discharge.Radicalization and extremist views come from warped individuals who have ill intent to do harm to people who don't have their views.They use Religious teaching to authenticate their case,to justify it.Religion is a very powerful tool and our Founding Fathers knew that.A diary is a look into a state of mind.Im not his judge.But I do have a question what makes people radicalize,whistleblow,or leave your post?
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CPO Andy Carrillo, MS
Disaffection combined with the desire to become part of a 'prophetic' effort are powerful inducements to commit atrocities.
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how is this guy still around? This happened 12 years ago, it must be costing the Tax payers alot of money for this
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I remember when the incident happened, and I am mildly surprised his sentence hasn't been resolved yet. Firing squad would be very appropriate in his case, but just for kicks, let's be sure we oil all the rounds with bacon grease first.
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