U.S. soldier sentenced to 24 years

JOINT BASE LEWIS-MCCHORD, Wash. – Spc. Jeremy Morlock was sentenced to up to 24 years in prison Wednesday for his role in the murders of three unarmed Afghans and other offenses, as part of the most significant U.S. Army war-crimes case to arise out of the nearly decadelong conflict in Afghanistan.

Army judge Lt. Col. Kwasi Hawks said he intended to sentence Morlock to life in prison with possibility of parole but he was bound by a plea deal that called for a lesser sentence.

The plea resulted from months of negotiations with prosecutors. As part of the deal, Morlock is expected to testify against other soldiers accused of crimes in Afghanistan, including four charged with murder. Morlock attended the court-martial in uniform, answering “Yes, sir” and “No, sir” in a quiet voice to a series of questions from Hawks about his understanding of the plea agreement.

During the questioning, the judge asked Morlock whether he shot people to scare them and it got out of hand, or if the plan was to kill people.

“The plan was to kill people,” said Morlock, who had deployed to southern Afghanistan with the 5th Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division.

After the judge accepted Morlock’s plea, Morlock made a statement to the court.

He began by apologizing to the victims’ families and the people of Afghanistan. He then spoke about his actions there.

“I realize now that I wasn’t fully prepared for the reality of war as it was fought in Afghanistan. … This does not excuse my conduct. I just wanted to survive and come home in one piece. Please accept my guilty pleas as an acceptance of my responsibility. And the fact that I cooperated with the government.”

Much of the courtroom gallery was filled by Morlock’s family and friends, who had flown down from Alaska.

At Wednesday’s court-martial, Morlock pleaded guilty to conspiring and then carrying out the three murders in January, February and May 2010. In a stipulated agreement, he said that the deaths were staged, with grenades or weapons dropped by the corpses to make them appear to be legitimate combat deaths.

Morlock also pleaded guilty to helping beat up another soldier who had blown the whistle on hashish smoking by some members of his platoon, and later joining a squad leader, Staff Sgt. Calvin Gibbs, to drop human fingers on the floor in front of that soldier.

In his stipulation of facts detailing war crimes, Morlock portrays Gibbs as a ringleader who joined the unit in November 2009 and quickly began talking about “scenarios” to kill unarmed Afghans.

Gibbs says he is not guilty of murder, and maintained that all the deaths were the result of combat actions.