Analysts: Fragging verdict proof system works

[unhappycamper]

Analysts: Fragging verdict proof system works
By Estes Thompson - The Associated Press
Posted : Saturday Dec 6, 2008 15:13:48 EST

RALEIGH, N.C. — A soldier’s exoneration in the bombing deaths of two superiors in Iraq shows military juries are not just “rubber stamps” for commanders and can be independent thinkers, legal analysts said Friday.

A Fort Bragg jury on Thursday found New York National Guard Staff Sgt. Alberto Martinez not guilty of premeditated murder in the first alleged “fragging” case from the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Killing a superior officer in the military was known by the term during the Vietnam War.

The 14 soldiers on the jury, all of whom outranked Martinez, heard six weeks of testimony and deliberated nearly two days before coming to a conclusion that surprised some trial watchers.

Among civilians, there are probably concerns “that military court panels are hang-’em-high, kangaroo court, rubber stamps for the commander,” said Michelle McCluer, a former Air Force attorney and executive director of the Washington-based National Institute of Military Justice.

“If you take a look at the numbers of acquittals in military courts ... it is clear that court-martial panels take their role as independent triers of fact seriously,” said McCluer, who prosecuted and defended military cases for 11 years.


Rest of article at: http://www.armytimes.com/news/2008/12/ap_martinez_fraggingtrial_120608/%2e

[elleng]

1. Sounds good to me.

What do you think, unhappyc?