WASHINGTON -A US soldier accused of killing Iraqi detainees was acquitted in the shooting of an Iraqi detainee, news reports said Friday. Army Staff Sergeant Shane Werst claimed self-defence in the January 2004 shooting of a detainee although a subordinate testified at his trial in Fort Hood, Texas, that the killing was unprovoked. A jury on Thursday acquitted the sergeant of murder after a four-day trial, and the judge declared him not guilty of obstructing justice as they accepted Werst's version of events over his subordinate's. Werst, 32, said he shot an unarmed suspected insurgent named Naser Ismail as many as eight times during house-to-house raids in Balad because Ismail had made a move toward another soldier's rifle. But he admitted that he had planted a gun on Ismail after the shooting and urged two members of his squad to lie about what had happened. | That's not proper. You should believe in the system and do what's right, Sarge. |
One of those soldiers, Specialist Nathan Stewart, the only other witness to the shooting, said Ismail, identified as a supporter of the Iraq insurgency, was unrestrained and cooperative when Werst began beating him. Stewart testified that he joined in on the beating before following Werst's order to stand Ismail up and Werst shot the detainee repeatedly. Werst, who had faced a life sentence if convicted, said in his own defence that Ismail and Stewart were fighting and he shot Ismail after the suspect lunged for Stewart's gun. "I would still to this day fire on that man," Werst testified. |