US Soldier Kills 16 - Where Should He Face Trial?

its amazing how forum posters can make a person not even care about the actual topic at hand

It's amazing that people with actual military experience, like Lillica, get overlooked when they post.

Probably because what they posted was incorrect.

He should be brought back to US for a fair trial, and if found guilty be handed over to the village.

well, if they follow obama's pattern from the koran situation the afghans should apologize to the US for this happening.

It serves the purpose of removing a dangerous person from our society. Would you rather spend thousands upon thousands of dollars to rehabilitate him? After all of those funds are spent would you truly say he is safe to be around people again, or more importantly would you be OK with him babysitting your kids? I sure as hell wouldn't. Are you going to take full responsibilty for him, and assure us 100% that he will never snap again?

Is it shameful, and even criminal that he was sent into the shithole that is the Afghanistan, and Iraq war which is more than likely the reason for his mental break? Yes that sucks. Do you want to know the best way to avoid these sort of events in the future? Easy. We need to GTFO out of the middle east. We're not wanted there, and we are long past being able to afford foreign wars when our domestic situation is complete ***.

While I am not in favor of the death penalty in most situations I do believe there are times when it is needed. This situation would be one of them. Mass murder many of which were children, and a confession of his own volition. Even considering the stressful situation he was in (war) does not grant him a free pass to act in the manner he did.

He got overlooked by someone else with military experience though...

Money spent can never be used as an argument for the death penalty. It costs more to put someone to death than to imprison them for life.

Its going to be interesting watching the news about killing sprees from soldiers when they all come back 1 guy is in trial atm cuz he killed like 4+ innocent homeless

Ooooooooooohhhhhhhhhhhhhh...Hmmm...Do different branches operate under different guidelines?

It is all UCMJ when I was in. May have changed though.

that is the entire purpose of jail...

there is never a time when the death penalty is needed, and the middle east is a *** it's a dirty job but somebody has to do it.

Except that is not what I said at all. Try reading it again.

My point was what ever amount was spent to rehabilitate him would not make people trust that he was safe to reintroduce into society or more importantly to be around their kids.

If you go on a killing spree, and waste unarmed civilians, and their children you're dysfunctional to the point of uselessness, a liability. Period.


The middle East is a joke, and a bad one at that. It is a dirty job that is not our responsibility. We are there so oil companies can make contracts, and all of the contracts that go along with an invasion. Not so we can "promote democracy"

If that were the case we would be promoting democracy in other parts of the world where there are dictator's, and atrocities being committed. Yet low and behold we only end up in areas where there are fossil fuels to be exploited.

nobody is truly a guarantee though, your logic is flawed.

Useless doesn't mean they should die.

If he murders even one more person in jail, it failed to achieve that goal.

what goal?

jails are to keep people who don't belong in society out of society.

The death penalty in a civilian court is still a moot point.
Imprisonment would still be cheaper than the death penalty anyway you look at it. The again military tribunals are a different beast.

I think its unfair to pigeon-hole the man as useless, particularly when a psychiatric exam has yet to be done. He should definitely stand trial AND undergo a psych exam.

There's a wide array of prisons in the US with full psychiatric facilities for individuals like this. No need to kill the man. If no psych issue is found throw the man with the other murderers and rapists.

Any other argument I can think of off the top of my head for the death penalty in this case is problematic as well. Using it as a deterrent wouldn't work. People don't decide against going on sprees because they're afraid of facing the death penalty.

It would be an act of revenge, plain an simple.

Agreed.

Don't confuse psychopathy with a psychotic break. There isn't even definitive evidence that psychopaths can't be rehabilitated to some degree.

Uniform Code of Military Justice is the same. Branches view themselves differently Navy(squids)Army(walking targets)Marines(jarheads) etc as forms of self worth.

I was a Ranger in the Army and did two tours in Afgan also come from a military family. Keep seeing post from common everyday people mostly american that somehow try to justify what this soldier did i.e. have you ever seen the stress these men and woman are under etc. Seriously you realized 90% of the time most are guarding for all purposes a sand castle in the dirt. Not to mention we are "guests" even in a "hostile" land and are deemed to act as such. And it was America that went to the middle east to stop terror if you want to believe that any man of common sense knows the true reason we are there.

But anyways back to the point at hand. This man killed 16 people plain and simple. There is no excuse that justifies that. So tired of American's we can "scam" our way out of anything in court bs because that's all it is.

He's very likely going to spend the rest of his life in prison. I don't see how that's a scam.

Sixteen life-sentences? He might get out with nine on good behavior.

"Scam" was more directed at the american court system and the attitudes of the people it comes with. Where people will go to any extreme to prove reasonable doubt without logic or morality playing any part. Of course that is just a personal view prolly could of just left it out.

In a jury of peers, emotion reigns. Logic and morality don't play much part. It's like video-games for some people, a win is a win, no matter how dirty you play. When you're gambling with your life, I don't think I could guilt anyone for that, either.

Yeah I am not a big fan of "he had a psychotic episode" so he isn't responsible argument. Is it a shame if someone who is mentally impaired commits a crime, and they are not fully cognizant of what they did? Sure. Does that change the fact that they killed someone or multiple people? Not in my opinion.

It's not an excuse, people who are (rarely) found not guilty by reason of insanity aren't just released. They are committed to a psychiatric institution, which in some ways can be worse.

I doubt if someone killed your child then got remanded to a mental institution after they confessed you'd feel like justice had been served.

just because some are saying there may be a reason as to why he did what he did it doesn't mean he's excused from what he did, which is what most are attempting to imply people are saying.

Even if he's found insane, he should be treated for such insanity, like Eugene said.

I don't view it as a matter of justice in the sense of an eye for an eye, I view it as a matter of what's in the best interest of everyone.

That being said psychiatric institutions really are a form of prison, you're medicated, you're locked up, you can be killed depending on where you are. It's not all arts and crafts.

I also believe in the eight amendment, I believe that even if you do something cruel and unusual, you don't deserve cruel and unusual punishment. As long as he's punished fairly then I don't have a problem with following international law. Maybe the law needs to be changed, but until it it does, he should be brought to the US and tried, and he should serve his time.