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Politics : Israel to U.S. : Now Deal with Syria and Iran -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Brasco One who wrote (6647)	1/10/2005 1:00:18 AM
From: paret	Respond to of 22250

Military judge OKs use of defendant's statement in grenade attack court-martial ESTES THOMPSON, Associated Press Writer Thursday, December 2, 2004 FORT BRAGG, N.C. (AP) -- A sergeant's admission that he rolled grenades into the tents of sleeping soldiers in Kuwait last year will be admissible when he goes on trial in the attack, a judge ruled Thursday. The ruling came at a pretrial hearing for Sgt. Hasan Akbar, 33, of the 101st Airborne Division. A statement he made immediately after the attack was admitted as evidence but some later statements were disallowed by the military judge, Col. Stephen Henley. Henley also granted Akbar's lawyers a delay in his trial until April 5 so they could gather more documentation for an insanity defense. The court-martial had been set for Feb. 15. Two officers were killed and 14 soldiers wounded in the March 23, 2003, grenade attack at Camp Pennsylvania, Kuwait, in the early days of the U.S. invasion of Iraq. Henley denied a defense request to keep out of the trial a statement Akbar made to an officer who was trying to get the camp secure and to determine whether the attack came from enemies outside. In the statement, after Akbar was asked if he bombed the tent, he replied, "Yes ... I did." Although Akbar hadn't been read his rights then, the officer talking to him was performing a legitimate public safety function, the judge said. However, the judge granted a defense request to keep military jurors from hearing more complete statements Akbar made to two sergeants assigned to watch him after he was detained. Henley said those statements came before Akbar was read his legal rights. Akbar is charged with two counts of premeditated murder and three counts of attempted premeditated murder. He could get the death penalty if convicted. The case marks the first time since the Vietnam War that an Army soldier has been prosecuted for the murder or attempted murder of another soldier during wartime. Killed were Army Capt. Christopher Seifert, 27, and Air Force Maj. Gregory Stone, 40. The grenade attack also wounded 14 members of the 101st Airborne Division.