An Army captain from Colorado charged with killing two Iraqi civilians has been convicted of lesser charges in Iraq. Military officials say Capt. Carl Bjork was found guilty of reckless endangerment and negligent homicide in a general court-martial on Tuesday. He was reprimanded and will lose a third of his salary for one year.

Army Times reports:

The mother of an Army specialist from Oshkosh who was fatally shot at Fort Hood in Texas says she’s disappointed in the sentence given to the soldier who killed her son. Armando Baca will spend 20 years in a military prison at Fort Leavenworth, Kan., for shooting 30-year-old Ryan Schlack during a party at the base.

Air Force Times reports that: Chief Gurney’s Article 32, UCMJ, hearing is scheduled for 26 May 2010, at Wright-Patt AFB, OH. bnd.com also has a post.

Air Force Times reports:

Two special operations pilots flying across Africa took a gamble that cost them big time. Even though they had six passengers, a crew member and not a clue where to find an emergency landing strip, they decided to risk flying on fumes to stay on schedule. Call them fuel-hardy, refusing twice to fill up with Jet-A gas. The twin-engine DHC-8 crashed in remote scrubland, wounding all nine onboard. Five had broken bones. A few simply suffered bruises. Three had back injuries so serious that they couldn’t walk. As for the $7 million plane, the Air Force wrote it off as a total loss.

And no disciplinary action.

[T]he accusers are 3 former Iraqi police and a former Iraqi intel officer who are currently detainees in Iraq. Reports have also surfaced that the detainees were allowed to speak with each other about their claims. It’s also feasible to conclude the detainees have ample motive to fabricate in order to deflect blame from themselves. In addition when an interpreter must relay testimony there is added room for error and inaccuracy.

There appear to be some ROE issues in the case, because of this reference:

Herschel Smith, writing about Rules of Engagement for Afghanistan at The Captain’s Journal, said, “Our problems with the existing ROE and RUF are legendary, and include the insurmountable initial problem that they are constructed around defensive operations and personal and unit self defense and include no discussion or guidance for offensive operations. This is why General Kearney wanted to charge two Army snipers with murder for targeting a Taliban commander who didn’t happen to be holding a weapon.”

The charges appear to be: two charges of premeditated murder and one of reckless endangerment.

Article 118, UCMJ.

Any person subject to this chapter whom without justification or excuse, unlawfully kills a human being, when he- – (1) has a premeditated design to kill; (2) intends to kill or inflict great bodily harm; (3) is engaged in an act which is inherently dangerous to others and evinces a wanton disregard of human life; or (4) is engaged in the perpetration or attempted perpetration of burglary, sodomy, rape, robbery, or aggravated arson; is guilty of murder, and shall suffer such punishment as a court-martial may direct, except that if found guilty under clause (1) or (4), he shall suffer death or imprisonment for life as a court-martial may direct.

There’s no indication in the reports that the case is referred capital. Therefore, if convicted of at least one of the two premeditated murder specifications the punishment is either confinement for life or confinement for life without the possibility of parole. The reckless endangerment charge carries a one year confinement and a BCD as the potential maximum. The military has a unitary sentence so the maximum exposure would be one Life/LWOP, even if convicted of all of the charges. This is different to the civilian community where the potential maximum would be two life sentences and one year total.

Article 134, UCMJ (Reckless endangerment).

(1) That the accused did engage in conduct; (2) That the conduct was wrongful and reckless or wanton; (3) That the conduct was likely to produce death or grievous bodily harm to another person; and (4) That, under the circumstances, the conduct of the accused was to the prejudice of good order and discipline in the armed forces or was of a nature to bring discredit upon the armed forces.

Here is a link to a Facebook page set up in support of CPT Bjork.

The United States military has decided to refer charges against an Army captain from Evergreen who is accused of ordering Iraqi officers to kill two Iraqi civilians.

Army Times reports.