November 1, 2005

Camp Arifjan, Kuwait — A U.S. military investigating officer on Tuesday recommended a court-martial for a National Guard soldier charged with killing two of his superiors in Iraq and raised the possibility of capital punishment.

Colonel Patrick Reinert said he found "reasonable cause" to believe that Staff Sergeant Alberto B. Martinez of Troy, New York, used an anti-personnel mine and three grenades to kill a captain and a lieutenant in a "personal vendetta."

The deaths of Captain Philip Esposito and Lieutenant Louis E. Allen in an explosion at a base in the central city of Tikrit on June 7 is believed to be first case of an American soldier in Iraq accused of killing his superiors.

Colonel Reinert said he also found aggravating factors that could allow for capital punishment.

Colonel Reinert's recommendation, which came at the end of a two-day hearing in this camp in Kuwait, will be submitted to Lieutenant General John Vines, the commander of Multi-National Corps Iraq, who will decide whether there is a court-martial. General Vines, who is based in Baghdad, reports to the overall commander in Iraq, General George Casey.

The prosecutor, Captain Adam Siple, had asked for a recommendation for a court-martial. Sergeant Martinez's defence counsel had argued there was no real evidence against their client.

Capt. Esposito, 30, of Suffern, New York, and Lt. Allen, 34, of Milford, Pa., were killed by a blast in Capt. Esposito's office in what was once one of Saddam Hussein's palaces. Their deaths were initially thought to be a result of "indirect fire" -- a mortar round that struck a window on the side of the building where Capt. Esposito and Lt. Allen were.

Senior Master Sgt. Kevin Fitzgerald, an expert on explosives, told the hearing that the blast was caused by a Claymore anti-personnel mine and possibly three grenades. Surgeon Col. Joan Sullivan told the tribunal that the men's injuries were not consistent with wounds caused by a mortar or rocket.

During Monday's session, one witness, Capt. Carl Prober, said Sgt. Martinez told him twice that he hated Capt. Esposito -- once in September, 2004, and again in May. In the second instance, Sgt. Martinez said he was going to "frag" Capt. Esposito, Capt. Prober testified. "Frag" is a Vietnam War term for soldiers killing their superiors.

Capt. Prober did not say why Sgt. Martinez said he hated Capt. Esposito.

The widows of Capt. Esposito and Lt. Allen attended the hearings after the Army agreed to fly them to Camp Arifjan, about 60 kilometres south of the capital of Kuwait City, for the sessions.

Sgt. Martinez, 37, a supply specialist who joined the New York Army National Guard in December, 1990, was deployed to Iraq some time after October, 2004, with the 42nd Infantry.

The Tikrit case is the second case during the Iraq war in which a U.S. soldier has been charged with killing his comrades.

In April, a sergeant in the Army's 101st Airborne Division, Hasan Akbar, was convicted of murder and attempted murder for a grenade and rifle attack that killed two officers and wounded 14 soldiers in Kuwait in 2003 during the opening days of the war.

Sgt. Akbar, 34, a Muslim, told investigators he staged the attack because he was upset that American troops would kill fellow Muslims. He was condemned to death.