Posted on Nov 19, 2014
Military court weighing fate of condemned soldier. What Are Your Thoughts?
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From: Army Times
A former U.S. soldier sentenced to death for killing two fellow soldiers and injuring 14 others in an attack in Kuwait is pinning his hopes of staying alive on an argument jurors should have never seen his diary.
Attorneys for 43-year-old Hasan K. Akbar argued on Tuesday that the one-time sergeant's writings, which include details of how he converted to radical Islam, were so inflammatory, that without the proper context, jurors were most likely to focus on the most damaging parts while considering whether to impose a death sentence.
"They didn't present the information in any meaningful way," said Lt. Col. John Potter, a military lawyer arguing the case for Akbar before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Armed Forces in Washington.
Akbar was with the 326th Engineer Battalion of the 101st Airborne Division based at Fort Campbell, Kentucky, when he was sentenced to death in 2005. He killed Army Capt. Christopher S. Seifert and Air Force Maj. Gregory L. Stone in Kuwait two years earlier during the early days of the Iraq war.
Prosecutors say he threw four hand grenades into tents as members of his division slept, then fired his rifle at soldiers in the ensuing chaos on March 23, 2003. A military jury at Fort Bragg, North Carolina, convicted Akbar and handed down the sentence. The military has not carried out an execution since 1961. Akbar is one of five ex-soldiers facing a death sentence, the only one for actions in the Iraq war.
Potter told the judges the defense failed to prepare witnesses and errantly let jurors see Akbar's diary, which contained multiple anti-American passages.
Potter said allowing the jury to read the diary "eviscerated the defense in any meaningful way."
"We think the diary, there's no tactical reason to submit the diary," Potter said.
In one entry dated Feb. 23, 2002, Akbar wrote that he believed staying in the Army would eventually lead him to prison.
"I had a premonition that if I re-enlisted I would find myself in jail. That is probably true because I already want to kill several of them," Akbar wrote of his fellow soldiers.
The judges hearing the case focused on how the diary fit into the rest of the defense strategy, asking whether attorneys did anything to put the passages in the context of Akbar's pre-military life or any mental issues he may have had.
Potter noted that the defense put on 38 minutes of mitigation evidence and argument and didn't present any testimony from his family to humanize him. Instead, the lawyers failed by letting jurors pick through the diary and focus on the passages that left their client in the worst possible light.
Prosecutors said Akbar's defense attorneys acted in his best interest to try and prevent a death sentence from being issued in one of the "most egregious offenses in modern military history." The defense attorneys focused on the most viable arguments and witnesses, Maj. Kenneth Borgnino said.
Prosecutors noted that much of Akbar's family likely wouldn't have made a good impression on the witness stand.
The judges did not indicate when a ruling would be issued.
http://www.armytimes.com/story/military/crime/2014/11/19/akbar-appeal-111914/19265341/
A former U.S. soldier sentenced to death for killing two fellow soldiers and injuring 14 others in an attack in Kuwait is pinning his hopes of staying alive on an argument jurors should have never seen his diary.
Attorneys for 43-year-old Hasan K. Akbar argued on Tuesday that the one-time sergeant's writings, which include details of how he converted to radical Islam, were so inflammatory, that without the proper context, jurors were most likely to focus on the most damaging parts while considering whether to impose a death sentence.
"They didn't present the information in any meaningful way," said Lt. Col. John Potter, a military lawyer arguing the case for Akbar before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Armed Forces in Washington.
Akbar was with the 326th Engineer Battalion of the 101st Airborne Division based at Fort Campbell, Kentucky, when he was sentenced to death in 2005. He killed Army Capt. Christopher S. Seifert and Air Force Maj. Gregory L. Stone in Kuwait two years earlier during the early days of the Iraq war.
Prosecutors say he threw four hand grenades into tents as members of his division slept, then fired his rifle at soldiers in the ensuing chaos on March 23, 2003. A military jury at Fort Bragg, North Carolina, convicted Akbar and handed down the sentence. The military has not carried out an execution since 1961. Akbar is one of five ex-soldiers facing a death sentence, the only one for actions in the Iraq war.
Potter told the judges the defense failed to prepare witnesses and errantly let jurors see Akbar's diary, which contained multiple anti-American passages.
Potter said allowing the jury to read the diary "eviscerated the defense in any meaningful way."
"We think the diary, there's no tactical reason to submit the diary," Potter said.
In one entry dated Feb. 23, 2002, Akbar wrote that he believed staying in the Army would eventually lead him to prison.
"I had a premonition that if I re-enlisted I would find myself in jail. That is probably true because I already want to kill several of them," Akbar wrote of his fellow soldiers.
The judges hearing the case focused on how the diary fit into the rest of the defense strategy, asking whether attorneys did anything to put the passages in the context of Akbar's pre-military life or any mental issues he may have had.
Potter noted that the defense put on 38 minutes of mitigation evidence and argument and didn't present any testimony from his family to humanize him. Instead, the lawyers failed by letting jurors pick through the diary and focus on the passages that left their client in the worst possible light.
Prosecutors said Akbar's defense attorneys acted in his best interest to try and prevent a death sentence from being issued in one of the "most egregious offenses in modern military history." The defense attorneys focused on the most viable arguments and witnesses, Maj. Kenneth Borgnino said.
Prosecutors noted that much of Akbar's family likely wouldn't have made a good impression on the witness stand.
The judges did not indicate when a ruling would be issued.
http://www.armytimes.com/story/military/crime/2014/11/19/akbar-appeal-111914/19265341/
Death Penalty
Kuwait
UCMJ
Posted 10 y ago
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He had his day in court, he was convicted, now get him out uniform and onto that table. One of his victims was a friend. Firing squad is what he should get but I will be ok with LETHAL INJECTION. I can only hope he gets one of those bad batches so it takes just a little longer. Sorry but Major Stone was a good man. Knew him when he was in the Hawaii Air Guard.
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SrA Scott Baer
Agreed on the unlikely of being RIGHTLY held responsible buddy, and yes particularly sucks you know one of the victims. So long as suffering with little comfort is involved along with a guarantee a certain someone will not trade him in order to protect, I guess like many, have no choice but to accept. Personal preference would involve a cattle prod til begging for mercy for each loss of liife, after that it is all about being a deterrent to assuming the free world is just going to take it.
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Cpl (Join to see)
I was a correctional officer at a maximum /Deathrow facility for 6 years, so allow me to tell you how lethal injection works. There are three steps. Sodium thiopental or pentobarbital is used as an anesthetic to induce unconsciousness, pancuronium bromide to cause muscle paralysis and respiratory arrest, and potassium chloride to stop the heart. Sounds painless. Only while you aren't awake, your brain is still working. So now, you can't move, and your lungs and heart aren't working. Your nerves are frantically sending messages to your brain, which still is working. But your brain can't do anything, but its still alive. Your brain doesn't start to die til 6 minutes after your heart stops. And how long it takes your brain to die after that six minutes depends on the person, but it can be up to 18 minutes. So, imagine being trapped in your body with nothing working for 15 minutes or so. I'm ok with lethal injection. :)
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I'll pull the trigger  myself. In recognition of the Government's asset-constrained environment, I'll also buy the ammunition. Should only take one round, but maybe two - in order to be on the safe side.
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1SG Michael Blount
SN Earl Robinson - Yah, but we'd have to clean it up UNLESS we let the flies do the job
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A few points and historical facts:
- Military justice is administered for a few different reasons: punishment, deterrence, rehabilitation, and good order and discipline.
- PVT Akbar received due process and was properly convicted by a military court martial.
- The issue of PVT Akbar's diary is a technical issue and a minor issue at best. If I were a court martial member, I would have convicted him on the facts that he killed 2 and wounded 14 alone regardless of what he wrote in his diary or what his motivations were.
- PVT Akbar deserves to be executed for the crime that he committed. Goes to punishment and deterrence.
- The US Army has not executed a Soldier on death row since about 1961.
- There are about nine Soldiers currently on death row at Fort Leavenworth.
- Unfortunately, the probability that PVT Akbar will be executed for his crime is very low at best regardless of how the US Court of Appeals rules. Unfortunately, the same can be said for former MAJ Hasan. These two will most likely die of old age in military prison. If so, this is a crime as well.
- Military justice is administered for a few different reasons: punishment, deterrence, rehabilitation, and good order and discipline.
- PVT Akbar received due process and was properly convicted by a military court martial.
- The issue of PVT Akbar's diary is a technical issue and a minor issue at best. If I were a court martial member, I would have convicted him on the facts that he killed 2 and wounded 14 alone regardless of what he wrote in his diary or what his motivations were.
- PVT Akbar deserves to be executed for the crime that he committed. Goes to punishment and deterrence.
- The US Army has not executed a Soldier on death row since about 1961.
- There are about nine Soldiers currently on death row at Fort Leavenworth.
- Unfortunately, the probability that PVT Akbar will be executed for his crime is very low at best regardless of how the US Court of Appeals rules. Unfortunately, the same can be said for former MAJ Hasan. These two will most likely die of old age in military prison. If so, this is a crime as well.
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CSM (Join to see)
If you ever go to the pre-command course at Fort Leavenworth you get a tour of the Disciplinary Barracks. Part of that tour goes to "death row", or as I believe they call it, the segregation unit. If I remember correctly it is divided into three hallways that you can see from the control room that the guard sits in. To the right is where they keep the prisoners who have had surgery or are recovering from an illness that they need to stay away from the other inmates while they heal. The center hallway is where they have violent prisoners. The one on the left is "death row". I saw Akbar when I was there. The existence they have in those cells is not something I would want to experience. Very little human contact. I was told by a guard that he (along with the others who are there) alternate between periods of laughing, crying, silence and anger. I am all for the death penalty, but life in prison certainly is punishment.
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CPT Brent Ferguson
This man should have been dead days after what he did we've already wasted too much money on what a single soldier could have achieved with a $0.39 piece of lead.
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