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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Outside the fact of the diary he should have the death sentence due the nature of the crime. Come on he used hand grenades and then shot at fellow soldiers. That should be enough.
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SCPO (Join to see)
Not only shot, but shot in the back. that is pure cowardice and deserves nothing less than the same fate.
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SGT Steve Vincent
It is up to God to judge him and his eternal soul, but it up to us to uphold our laws, and send him to the meeting in an expedient manner.
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SPC Justin Hamilton
Put him down! I was there when that happen he should've been put down. What a piece of *****
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It is quite disturbing not only in this case, but a myriad of others that we tax payers financially support decades of incarceration and appeals for folks who are deemed guilty over and over. If the courts and folks of our great nation would carry out sentences immediately and harshly, maybe we could curve some of the radical crimes we endure as a nation.
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SGT (Join to see)
CW5 Sam R. Baker -
You want to "deter the next guy" Chief, make certain that he/she has a TRAINED AND SENSITIVE CONSCIENCE AND the certain knowledge that such matters are dealt with SWIFTLY AND SEVERELY whatever the method/s of punishment used.
Anything less will prove to be USELESS for the purpose, and even that won't work every single time, but it's way ahead of what's being done, (NOTHING), presently.
For more information on what I'd propose, READ "Starship Troopers" by Robert A. Heinlein if you haven't already.
You want to "deter the next guy" Chief, make certain that he/she has a TRAINED AND SENSITIVE CONSCIENCE AND the certain knowledge that such matters are dealt with SWIFTLY AND SEVERELY whatever the method/s of punishment used.
Anything less will prove to be USELESS for the purpose, and even that won't work every single time, but it's way ahead of what's being done, (NOTHING), presently.
For more information on what I'd propose, READ "Starship Troopers" by Robert A. Heinlein if you haven't already.
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COL Ted Mc
Command Chief; You do me a disservice when you say "... if we take your stance and allow every single person out of prison and back on the street?" since that is obviously NOT my position.
Where the crime calls for it AND the accused has been convicted beyond any POSSIBLE doubt, AND where the accused has had that conviction based on legally obtained evidence to which they were given the unrestrained ability to make full answer and defence AND where the "trier of fact" actually acted without any bias whatsoever, AND where the accused has had ample opportunity to exercise any rights of appeal that the law allows, THEN AND ONLY THEN should "Capital Punishment" be carried out WHERE THERE IS NO REASONABLE PROSPECT OF REHABILITATION.
FYI, the factor that has the highest co-relation to the reduction in the crime rate is "speed and certainty of apprehension and punishment". Face it, most criminals aren't all that bright - but they do know that the odds on them getting caught aren't all that high (if they even think that they will get caught at all) so the severity of punishment simply doesn't enter into the calculations of someone who thinks that they aren't going to get caught at all.
What has to be done is to change society's mind-set so that being a criminal is no longer "glamorous" and it is no longer socially acceptable to "shelter" criminals (by failing to turn them in).
Once the potential criminals realize that they AREN'T going to get away with committing crimes then only the mentally deficient/deranged will become criminals and the crime rate will plummet.
Where the crime calls for it AND the accused has been convicted beyond any POSSIBLE doubt, AND where the accused has had that conviction based on legally obtained evidence to which they were given the unrestrained ability to make full answer and defence AND where the "trier of fact" actually acted without any bias whatsoever, AND where the accused has had ample opportunity to exercise any rights of appeal that the law allows, THEN AND ONLY THEN should "Capital Punishment" be carried out WHERE THERE IS NO REASONABLE PROSPECT OF REHABILITATION.
FYI, the factor that has the highest co-relation to the reduction in the crime rate is "speed and certainty of apprehension and punishment". Face it, most criminals aren't all that bright - but they do know that the odds on them getting caught aren't all that high (if they even think that they will get caught at all) so the severity of punishment simply doesn't enter into the calculations of someone who thinks that they aren't going to get caught at all.
What has to be done is to change society's mind-set so that being a criminal is no longer "glamorous" and it is no longer socially acceptable to "shelter" criminals (by failing to turn them in).
Once the potential criminals realize that they AREN'T going to get away with committing crimes then only the mentally deficient/deranged will become criminals and the crime rate will plummet.
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SSG (Join to see)
In Islam, there is no concept of prison. There is swift judgment or acquittal, depending on how the victim or their family wants to handle things. The US is a little weird in that it rewards criminals with a lifetime of security, food, electricity, college education, etc, that it denies to many more well deserving people.
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COL Ted Mc
Spec; If " The US is a little weird in that it rewards criminals with a lifetime of security, food, electricity, college education, etc, that it denies to many more well deserving people." then the vast majority of the rest of the world is also "a little weird".
Admittedly "Islam" doesn't specify imprisonment (which is different than having "no concept of prison") but "Islam" was aimed at a nomadic people and nomads simply don't have the facilities to lock people up. [ASIDE - Neither "The Bible" nor "Christianity" SPECIFIES imprisonment either, so you would be just as correct to say "In Christianity, there is no concept of prison." as you are when you say "In Islam, there is no concept of prison.".]
However, you might consider the article interesting (except, of course, for the fact that it contradicts your basic postulates with facts).
http://www.idosi.org/mejsr/mejsr19(5)14/22.pdf
Admittedly "Islam" doesn't specify imprisonment (which is different than having "no concept of prison") but "Islam" was aimed at a nomadic people and nomads simply don't have the facilities to lock people up. [ASIDE - Neither "The Bible" nor "Christianity" SPECIFIES imprisonment either, so you would be just as correct to say "In Christianity, there is no concept of prison." as you are when you say "In Islam, there is no concept of prison.".]
However, you might consider the article interesting (except, of course, for the fact that it contradicts your basic postulates with facts).
http://www.idosi.org/mejsr/mejsr19(5)14/22.pdf
SPC West African Intelligence Analyst at HHC, 91st CA | 35F-Enlisted: Intelligence Analyst |...
View the full military profile of SPC(P) (Join to see), West African Intelligence Analyst at HHC, 91st CA | Fort Bragg, NC | RallyPoint professional military profile.
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SGT (Join to see)
LTC (Join to see) - Peeling his skin off with a dull knife would be alright with me, making certain that the knife was dipped in pig blood as it was being used would be even better, IMO.
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SFC Mark Bailey
Actually I'm all for a firing squad with plenty of ammunition.
Tell the entire squad to only go for his extremities and work their way in as we keep reloading the magazines. Once were down to the last few rounds, then and only then tell everyone to finish him off.
This POS was a coward to begin with only changing his belief to Islam so he could get out of going. When he was told he had to go he cried out to the injustice of it all .... but remember something, this POS was a SSG and had re-enlisted at least once...
Execute him with extreme prejudice and let his death be a visible warning to others
Tell the entire squad to only go for his extremities and work their way in as we keep reloading the magazines. Once were down to the last few rounds, then and only then tell everyone to finish him off.
This POS was a coward to begin with only changing his belief to Islam so he could get out of going. When he was told he had to go he cried out to the injustice of it all .... but remember something, this POS was a SSG and had re-enlisted at least once...
Execute him with extreme prejudice and let his death be a visible warning to others
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Cpl (Join to see)
Not remotely constitutional. But if it was, I say afterwards charge his family for the rounds expended.
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So...convicted of killing two fellow soldiers and injuring 14 others, and the defense team is upset about his diary? Really?
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SPC James Mcneil
Well they have the job of defending him. Who knows how they personally feel about the case. They're doing their job.
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SSG Maurice P.
DOESNT IT STATE UNDER THE UCMJ THAT TREASON IS A DEATH SENTENCE ESPECIALLY IF YOU TOOK LIFE WHILE COMMITTING IT...
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SSG (Join to see)
I was in Kuwait and was woken by the explosion from the grenades and weapons fire.. we thought we where under attack. .. we immediately set up a 360 with our people and took in people that where running.. our tents were set up about 400 yards from CPT Seifert and MAJ Stone.. we could not believe that this had happened.. how did it happen.. the next day our unit had to roll into Iraq.. I am so relieved that we had worked as a team for 3 years and knew each other well.. We had volunteered to take this POS with us..
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SPC Thomas Lema
it would of been great if by just some chance he could of happened across a ied ' alone of course
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Let him die for Allah... We can help him.
Bacon first please!!! Sorry, I have absolutely none, nil, NO sympathy!!!
Bacon first please!!! Sorry, I have absolutely none, nil, NO sympathy!!!
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SGT (Join to see)
SGT (Join to see) -
When there are charges brought against a member of the U.S. military, regardless of severity, the presumption, in a court martial is of innocence, not guilt, the reverse is true in a situation where the charges are brought under Article 15 U.C.M.J. and, of course, the punishments available in the Article 15 proceeding are much less severe.
Thus, until the Court Martial has passed sentence or acquitted, he/she retains their current rank and pay grade even when the SM is being held in custody. I'm fairly certain that the "uniform of the day" in the stockade is NOT "Dress Greens", but in order to properly appear before a Court Martial, just as for every other military function, you MUST be: "In the proper place, at the appointed time and in the proper uniform".
Upon conviction, the situation changes and the Court will strip the individual of ALL rank and pay as well as the privileges attendant to wearing the uniform unless the Manual For Courts-Martial indicates a lesser sentence as being the most available to the Court.
Having been a Sergeant, you should already know this.
When there are charges brought against a member of the U.S. military, regardless of severity, the presumption, in a court martial is of innocence, not guilt, the reverse is true in a situation where the charges are brought under Article 15 U.C.M.J. and, of course, the punishments available in the Article 15 proceeding are much less severe.
Thus, until the Court Martial has passed sentence or acquitted, he/she retains their current rank and pay grade even when the SM is being held in custody. I'm fairly certain that the "uniform of the day" in the stockade is NOT "Dress Greens", but in order to properly appear before a Court Martial, just as for every other military function, you MUST be: "In the proper place, at the appointed time and in the proper uniform".
Upon conviction, the situation changes and the Court will strip the individual of ALL rank and pay as well as the privileges attendant to wearing the uniform unless the Manual For Courts-Martial indicates a lesser sentence as being the most available to the Court.
Having been a Sergeant, you should already know this.
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SGT (Join to see)
SGT (Join to see) I really don't feel the need to explain myself to a nobody, because THAT is what you are with no name and no picture... for all I know, you have a fake account and you are trolling, but I have not studied all of the UCMJ and I am quite certain, unless you are an Attorney, that more are like myself. I am quite certain that not all SGT's have conducted an Article ?. AND I am also quite certain that there are people, beyond myself, asking why he still held the rank. But Whatever. Nice copy and paste. With that being said, I really don't give a shit what you think I should all ready know.
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I remember reading about this incident, Who cares about the diary and writings. He had his day in court and was found guilty by a jury of his peers.
He did the crime there is no denying there were eye witnesses of him shooting and murdering his fellow soldiers.
After all is said and done, it is time to pay the piper. He did the crime, now it is time for him to pay the price for his treachery.
He is a traitor and a coward. May hi soul rot in hell for what he did.
He did the crime there is no denying there were eye witnesses of him shooting and murdering his fellow soldiers.
After all is said and done, it is time to pay the piper. He did the crime, now it is time for him to pay the price for his treachery.
He is a traitor and a coward. May hi soul rot in hell for what he did.
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What is there to discuss? He's a traitor. Nothing more needs to be said...
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LT Clint Davis
This is right up here with people in the media referring to he Fort Hood shooter as "Major Nidal Hasan".... you know... during that "work-place violence"... That bastard lost his rank and title when he took up arms against our own...
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LT Clint Davis
SSG John Erny I concur, that is why it boils my blood to here him referenced [in the media] as "Major"
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Killing of your fellow soldiers and betraying your army values is an act of treason and an unrefutable sign of a permanently damaged moral compass. Thomas Jefferson once shot a man on the White House lawn for treason and cowardice. If a president... The top of the military chain of command can sack up and handle business himself we should take a page from history and make it clear to all that these actions and people with these types of malicious ideals will not be tolerated, taken prisoner or shown even an ounce of mercy. He deserves to die like the scum sucking dog that he is.
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I'm confused on the title even, "Condemned Soldier", excuse me but I don't see anyway in this world he can be doing anything even close to Soldiering or am I wrong.
"Condemned Murderer" "Condemned Prisoner" "Condemned Traitor" "Condemned Coward" This individual doesn't deserve to have Soldier associated anywhere near his name. He lost that right on that fateful day. Hey newspapers and online rags feel free to use anyone of the above titles, they are free.
"Condemned Murderer" "Condemned Prisoner" "Condemned Traitor" "Condemned Coward" This individual doesn't deserve to have Soldier associated anywhere near his name. He lost that right on that fateful day. Hey newspapers and online rags feel free to use anyone of the above titles, they are free.
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PFC (Join to see)
It appears to this solider 1SG is in fact, not a Dentally Obsessive Miniature Sprite, who exchanges currency for formed calcium deposits under preschool aged dependents bed clothing's. Man this makes me boil. What a coward. There is a serious absence of light all around that monster.
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CSM Michael Lynch
Agreed I think he is also, why? if someone did take it would save us money, but put a Soldier in his position .
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PFC (Join to see)
CSM Lynch, I believe because although that American (likely civilian) would be doing "right" they would not be conducting themselves legally, however many beers or whiskeys I may buy them after they snuff that monster from our place of being. They would get in similar trouble to "him" a monster. My best friend on this earth is a Behavioral Health "Crisis" NCO and stated to me something to the effect that this guy must have worked very very hard to keep his "cancer of belief" under wraps. I am inclined to believe that. I haven't been around along time, but long enough to see that he was probably going to lengths to obfuscate and obscure the truth from view and thereby action. NOW, we are supposed to buy that we weren't "supposed" to read his diary. Is he my little sister in 8th grade? No, she is a patriot and a citizen still I just checked...
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I arrived with 1st BDE 101st Airborne (Air Assault) on the morning after this attack 23 March 2003 from Camp New Jersey. I was the PSYOP Detachment assigned to the BDE for OIF. I was witness to the aftermath and subsequent investigations that followed this attach while still in Kuwait. The attack was well planned and though out. He turned off the generators so the lights would be off outside the pads. He threw grenades into the senior leadership tents one at a time and was shooting them as they ran out cover. Capt. Christopher S. Seifert and died of gunshot wounds. Air Force Maj. Gregory L. Stone died from a fragment of the grenade tossed in his tent, he bleed out on the flight to the hospital. Several others were seriously injured including the BDE CDR then (COL) now LTG Ben Hodges. He was only discovered because he was bleeding from one of his own grenades. When confronted, he confessed to the attack. He was in charge of the munitions that evening. Those in the BDE are my friends and we served in combat together. A firing squad is absolutely appropriate. This is a PC move because of the current administration views on "terrorism" or rather the lack of it.
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SGT (Join to see)
One can only hope that he would be resentenced to death by hanging and that the hangman would be very new to the job.
A 'botched' hanging with a pig blood permeated older, but not too old rope would be just great, let this POS die SLOWLY, PAINFULLY and without 'going to Allah'!
Maybe somebody could put some pig plasma into his lethal injection, or at least tell him that it has been done?!?!
A 'botched' hanging with a pig blood permeated older, but not too old rope would be just great, let this POS die SLOWLY, PAINFULLY and without 'going to Allah'!
Maybe somebody could put some pig plasma into his lethal injection, or at least tell him that it has been done?!?!
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Capt Lance Gallardo
We should definitely bring back death by hanging for terrorists like this scumbag. It was good for the Nazis at Nuremberg, should be good medicine for animals like this.
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Capt Lance Gallardo
We have really gone soft as a country. The SS infiltrators at the Battle of the Bulge caught wearing US uniforms were dispatched by firing squad pretty quickly. We have been according EPW Status to irregular fighters for all of GWOT (Iraq Sunni and Shia Militias, Taliban in Afghanistan), who don't wear uniforms or follow the Geneva Conventions on the treatment of people they capture (Example. ISIS fighters murdering captured Iraq soldiers for instance in mass graves on Video and posting online for propaganda and recruiting purposes, social media beheading of captured Americans and Japanese and Europeans), and yet we do not summarily execute these irregular fighters after we are done collecting whatever intel we can extract from them. We all know what happens to captured US Military and civilians when ISIS or the Taliban or the Shia Militias get their hands on our people. The Marines intentionally did not routinely take Japs prisoners in the Island hopping campaigns with notable exceptions like Pvt Guy Gabaldon, USMC (who spoke Japanese and could get large numbers of Japs to surrender by promising them fair treatment). Everyone knew what the Japs would do to a captured Marine or GI and it was well understood that we were engaged in a no quarter "War of Extermination," with the Japanese. I submit that we are largely fighting the same kind of "War of Extermination" against ISIS if not also against the Taliban and Shia Militias (who have temporarily stopped attacking US Forces in Iraq on orders of there Iranian Masters because somehow we are in a temporary alliance with them and Iran against the perceived more immediate threat of ISIS). Our enemies (Violent Islamic fundamentalist Iran, ISIS (by definition a Violent Islamic Fundamentalist "VIF" Ideology), violent Shia Islamic Fundamentalists, and other violent Sunni Islamic Fundamentalists groups like Al Qaeda) understand they are engaged in a war of extermination against the US and the Liberal Democracies of the West (and Israel). Pres. Obama and the liberals who support and surround him seem to be the only people who do not understand that we are engaged, whether we want to be or not, in a war of extermination with people who are very clear on the fact that they do not believe they can live in a world where they can peacefully co-exist with Liberal Tolerant Democracies such as the United States and other Western Style Democracies.
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