Sgt. John Russell pleaded guilty as part of a deal with prosecutors
A U.S. Army sergeant was sentenced Thursday to life in prison without parole for gunning down five fellow service members at a combat stress clinic in Iraq.
The sentence handed down at Joint Base Lewis-McChord, near Tacoma, Washington, came after Sgt. John Russell pleaded guilty to the killings in a deal in which prosecutors agreed not to seek the death penalty.
Russell pleaded guilty to the May 11, 2009, killings at Baghdad’s Camp Liberty, telling a military court last month that he “did it out of rage.”
The only question facing the judge, Col. David Conn, was whether Russell committed the slayings with premeditation, which the 48-year-old soldier disputed.
During a brief sentencing hearing, Conn ruled Russell killed with premeditation,” meaning the sergeant could not be given a lesser sentence.
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May 16, 2013 19:23
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Mine resistant ambush protected vehicles sit in a row on the Camp Liberty MRAP fielding site, Feb. 20, 2009. The day marks the introduction of the 10,000th vehicle into the Iraq theater of operations. Photo Credit: U.S. Army, Spc. Christopher Gaylord.
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LOS ANGELES (AFP) – A U.S. soldier convicted of killing five of his colleagues in Iraq in May 2009 was sentenced to life behind bars Thursday and dishonorably discharged.
Army Sgt. John Russell was convicted earlier this week over the murders at a clinic for soldiers suffering from war-related stress at Camp Liberty, the largest U.S. base in Iraq.
Russell, who previously denied responsibility, admitted the killings last month in a plea deal to escape a death sentence, worked out by his lawyers at Joint Base Lewis-McChord (JBLM), in the northwestern U.S. state of Washington.
On Thursday he was jailed for life, reduced to the rank of private and given a dishonorable discharge from the military, military spokeswoman Barbara Junius told AFP.
At the time of the Camp Liberty killings, the incident represented the single deadliest toll on U.S. forces in a month in Iraq, and came at a sensitive moment in the US military’s occupation of the country it invaded in 2003.
Russell was on his third tour of duty in Iraq, and his unit was preparing to leave the country.
Due to concerns over Russell’s mental state, his commanding officer had ordered about a week before the shooting that his weapon be confiscated and that he get counseling.
After pleading guilty last month, Russell gave an account of the killings for the first time. The victims were three soldiers receiving care at the clinic and two medical officers.
“I just did it out of rage, sir,” he told the military judge, Col. David Conn, describing how he walked from room to room firing at mental health workers and patients.
“I was upset. I do not remember being angry, but I know that everyone who witnessed me outside the combat stress clinic said I looked angry,” the Los Angeles Times quoted him as saying.
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