AP: GI Guilty in Iraqi Detainees' Deaths

Saturday March 17, 2007 6:16 AM

By KRISTIN M. HALL

Associated Press Writer

FORT CAMPBELL, Ky. (AP) - A military panel found a 101st Airborne
soldier guilty of three counts of negligent homicide but not guilty
of premeditated murder in the deaths of three Iraqi detainees.

Staff Sgt. Ray Girouard, 24, smiled as he hugged his defense lawyer
and family members after the verdict was read. He faced up to life
in prison had he been found guilty of premeditated murder.

The panel, which deliberated for four hours, also found Girouard
guilty of obstruction of justice for lying to investigators, of
conspiracy for trying to conceal the crime and of failure to obey
a general order.

Girouard was accused of telling his soldiers to release detainees
they captured during the May 9 raid near Samarra, Iraq, and then
shoot them as they fled. He is the last and most senior soldier
from the 101st Airborne Division to face trial in the killings.

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