Lawyers present case in Afghan 'kill team' trial

Three memebers of the rogue US army unit will
testify against the unit’s alleged head, Staff
Sergeant Calvin Gibbs
© AFP/US Army/HO/File

AFP

JOINT BASE LEWIS-MCCHORD, Washington (AFP) – Lawyers began Monday presenting their case in the court martial of the alleged head of a rogue US army unit, charged with killing Afghan civilians for sport.

Staff Sergeant Calvin Gibbs faces a maximum sentence of life in prison over charges including three counts of premeditated murder, in a “kill team” scandal which has threatened Abu Ghraib-style embarrassment for the US military.

Three members of the rogue unit, alleged to have committed the war crimes over a period of several months in early 2010, are due testify at his court martial, according to the witness list.

Gibbs’ lawyers on Friday pled not guilty to all 16 charges at the beginning of the day’s proceedings at Joint Base Lewis-McChord, which started with selection of a jury to hear the week-long case.

There was no testimony, but charge documents seen by AFP detailed the allegations that Gibbs was the ringleader of a so-called “kill team” including four other soldiers, three of whom have already pled guilty.

If convicted of any of the three murder charges, Gibbs faces a maximum punishment of life imprisonment.

Three of the other “kill-team” members have agreed to testify against Gibbs: Specialist Jeremy Morlock, Specialist Adam Winfield, and Specialist Michael Wagnon.

Gibbs is the fourth “kill team” member to face a court-martial for his alleged actions in the southern Kandahar province of Afghanistan between January and May of 2010.

In March, Morlock, 23, pled guilty to the killings and to using stolen weapons to pretend the victims were enemy fighters. He was jailed for 24 years and dishonorably discharged, but avoided life in prison.

In August, Winfield, 23, was sentenced to three years in prison after pleading guilty to a reduced charge of involuntary manslaughter and illegal use of marijuana.

Then in September, Private First Class Andrew Holmes, 21, was jailed for seven years in a plea agreement to avoid a 15-year term. A fifth soldier, Wagnon, is still awaiting military trial for his alleged role in the killings.

The German news magazine Der Spiegel published three grisly pictures in March, out of a reported cache of 4,000 documents, showing Morlock and Holmes holding up the bloodied head of a corpse.