XPost: alt.military.uk, alt.politics.gw-bush, aus.legal   
   XPost: soc.culture.afghanistan, us.military.navy   
   From: theprof@jonez.net   
      
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   >> U.S. soldier convicted of beating Iraqi detainee with baseball bat   
   >   
   >> Submitted by davidswanson on Wed, 2007-08-15 13:56.   
   >>   
   >> By Associated Press   
   >>   
   >> FORT LEE, Virginia: A soldier was convicted Tuesday of brutally beating an   
   >> Iraqi detainee with a baseball bat and attempting to cover it up. The   
   verdict   
   >> arrived just a day after his court-martial began.   
   >>   
   >> A six-person military jury found Sgt. 1st Class Timothy L. Drake guilty of   
   >> assault and two counts of making false statements, but acquitted the soldier   
   >> on the charges of impeding the investigation and encouraging a fellow   
   soldier   
   >> to beat a detainee.   
   >>   
   >> Drake was awaiting his sentence Wednesday evening.   
   >>   
   >> Drake, 40, was accused of striking the detainee in December 2003 at Forward   
   >> Operating Base Mercury, near the Iraqi town of Fallujah.   
   >>   
   >> Spc. Angel M. Bonilla testified that he saw Drake strike a detainee with the   
   >> aluminum bat. Afterward, he said Drake told him, "B, come get a piece of   
   >> this."   
   >>   
   >> Bonilla said he grabbed a bat from outside the tent and struck a second   
   >> detainee. He said he regretted it afterward, but that he felt pressured to   
   do   
   >> it.   
   >>   
   >> Drake, a senior food-service sergeant at that time, did not testify.   
   >>   
   >> The defense rested its case Tuesday after putting only one witness on the   
   >> stand. Maj. Michael A. Cortines, an Army physician, testified that detainees   
   >> at Mercury received careful medical inspections when they arrived at the   
   >> temporary holding facility and were examined daily by medical personnel.   
   >>   
   >> Defense attorney Michael Waddington said Cortines' testimony supported the   
   >> claim that no medical evidence existed that anyone was abused at Mercury.   
   >>   
   >> The military judge dismissed one of the most serious charges against Drake   
   >> Monday.   
   >>   
   >> The dismissal of the bodily injury charge reduced Drake's maximum possible   
   >> punishment from 21 1/2 years to 16 1/2 years. He also could get a reduction   
   >> in rank, a dishonorable discharge and total forfeiture of pay and allowance,   
   >> the Army said.   
   >>   
   >>   
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