In video, soldier confesses to killing Iraqi

[unhappycamper]

In video, soldier confesses to killing Iraqi
By George Frey - The Associated Press
Posted : Thursday Feb 19, 2009 20:05:40 EST

VILSECK, Germany — A U.S. soldier confessed to military investigators that he shot a bound and blindfolded Iraqi prisoner point-blank in the back of the head, according to a video played at his murder trial Thursday

Sgt. Michael Leahy, 28, told the Germany-based investigators that after shooting the first prisoner, he turned his 9mm pistol on another captive.

“The detainee I shot fell back on me,” he said in the videotape of the January 2008 interrogation played at his trial in the Army’s Rose Barracks’ courtroom. “I turned to the right and saw the other detainee flinch, and turn his head after he heard the shot. My weapon was pointed toward him, my weapon was anywhere from a foot to a couple of inches away. I hit him in the side of the head, the face, anywhere from the ear forward.”

But the shot didn’t kill the second man, so Master Sgt. John Hatley, 40, finished him off with a shot to the chest, Leahy said.

“I’m ashamed of what I’ve done,” he said in the video, occasionally wiping tears from his eyes and holding his face in his hands. “I don’t consider myself a murderer. I made a huge mistake. I’ll accept the consequences.”


Rest of article at: http://armytimes.com/news/2009/02/ap_soldier_iraq_killing_021909/%2e