Jury Reviews Records for Soldier's Sentencing

By Todd Hatton

Murray, KY – A military jury is reviewing hundreds of records from a military court-martial held nearly five years ago to determine a new sentence for a soldier whose convictions in the deaths of three Iraqi detainees were overturned. Last year, a military appeals court tossed out the negligent homicide convictions against Staff Sgt. Ray Girouard of Sweetwater,Tennessee. A new sentencing hearing began Tuesday at Fort Campbell, Ky., for his remaining convictions of obstruction of justice, conspiracy to obstruct justice and violation of a general order. Girouard testified in 2007 that he never ordered other soldiers to kill the men during a raid near Samarra, Iraq, in 2006. But he did say that he helped cover up the killings by staging an attack and claiming the men were killed in self-defense.