Killing of al-Sadr driver done in mercy, court told

By David Rising
The Associated Press

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HANAU, Germany — An Army officer charged with killing a driver for militant Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr in Iraq told a fellow officer that the man was wounded so badly that he shot him out of compassion, a U.S. military court heard yesterday.

At a hearing to determine whether Capt. Rogelio Maynulet should be court-martialed, 1st Lt. Colin Cremin testified that he asked Maynulet what happened May 21 near Kufa, south of Baghdad, after learning of the incident.

Maynulet had been leading a 1st Armored Division patrol when it came across a BMW sedan believed to be carrying al-Sadr militiamen, and a chase ensued. U.S. soldiers fired shots, wounding both the driver and passenger.

After a medic pulled the driver out of the car, Maynulet said it was clear he had suffered critical injuries, with part of his skull blown away, prosecutor Capt. Daniel Sennott said, reading a statement Cremin made in August.

The medic "said nothing could be done for him. At that point Capt. Maynulet told you he stepped back and shot him in the base of the neck or back of the head," Sennott said.

Cremin confirmed making the statement, and added that Maynulet told him there had been no alternative.

"It was something he didn't want to do, but it was the compassionate response," Cremin testified.

Cremin, who was helping coordinate the mission from company headquarters, said there was no opportunity to send a helicopter to rescue the driver.

"It would have compromised the lives of the soldiers involved in that mission," he testified.
 
Evidence was presented at the Article 32 hearing, the military equivalent of a grand-jury session, so an Army investigator can decide whether to court-martial Maynulet on charges of murder and dereliction of duty.

Maynulet's wife, Brooke, an Army Black Hawk helicopter pilot, sat behind her husband.

Prosecutors suggested Maynulet habitually broke the military's rules of engagement in Iraq when it suited him. They questioned several witnesses about a nonregulation weapon he carried and an incident in which he was reprimanded for breaking into an Iraqi police station to retrieve a civilian contractor's identification card he believed was confiscated inappropriately.

However, most of the eight witnesses who testified yesterday described Maynulet, 29, as an outstanding officer who was cool under fire and maintained close ties to the Iraqi community.

A battalion intelligence officer, Capt. Jeremy Dovos, testified that the Chicago resident was able to use the trust he developed with Iraqis to gather information leading to an operation that netted 1,000 members of Saddam Hussein's militia.

"He knew the value of intelligence when others didn't, and he went out and sought that and found that," Dovos testified.

The driver Maynulet is accused of killing was identified by relatives as Karim Hassan, 36. The family does not dispute that he was working for al-Sadr.

A military drone aircraft caught the killing on tape. That recording was introduced into evidence yesterday, but reporters were told to leave the court as it was viewed by an Army neurosurgeon because the hearing officer, Maj. Michael Fadden, said it might show the capabilities of U.S. technology in Iraq.

The hearing is scheduled to run through tomorrow. No immediate decision is expected on whether Maynulet will be court-martialed.