Jury Selection Begins in Trial of Army Sgt. Accused in Fatal Attack on US Soldier (moved from ATSNN

Jury selection is scheduled to start for the trial of Sgt. Hasan Akbar .Sgt. Akbar is the soldier who has been accused of tossing a grenade into a tent full of his fellow soldiers.
His actions killed two officers and wounded 14 other soldiers.
Sgt. Akbar has confessed that he did this since he was afraid his fellow Army soldiers would harm Muslims.
Sgt. Akbar has been found to be mentally competent to stand trial.



This trial should be fairly short. Sgt. Akbar has confessed to the murders repeatedly. If he had a problem with participating in the operations in Iraq, he could have and should have put in to be identified as a Contentious Objector. Instead, he goes all the way to Kuwait and then plans out the act and murders his fellow soldiers. Remember, especially during war time, a military person RELIES on his partner. The thought that the person standing next to you who is supposed to be protecting your back is going to “shoot you in the back” is unthinkable. Sgt Akbar should receive the Death Penalty which he is eligible for since he performed his crime during wartime.

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This is not a normal case of murder as we all may think. This is treason. Who cares whatever his motive, whether he wanted to be in Iraq or not, it doesn't change the fact that he commited murder upon his fellow solider. This has to be a capital crime because this is the worst crime possible. You are acting as the enemy to your allies. I am glad he can take responsibility for his actions but he will get the death penalty hopefully.

Sgt. Akbar's defense lawyers are not even going to argue the point of his guilt. They plan to use the "Not Guilty due to Dimished capacity" (read temporary insanity). They also plan to include the fact that he has not been able to sleep well since the murders.

Besides his mental stability, Akbar's sleep habits have been an issue in nearly two years of pretrial hearings; his defense says he suffers from sleep apnea. Last month, hearings were delayed after Akbar fought with a military police officer who was guarding him.

Soldier in Kuwait Killings to Go on Trial

Originally posted by kenshiro2012
Sgt. Akbar's defense lawyers are not even going to argue the point of his guilt. They plan to use the "Not Guilty due to Dimished capacity" (read temporary insanity). They also plan to include the fact that he has not been able to sleep well since the murders.

Pfft. I think these "Not guilty due to temporary insanity" pleas are a crock of bulls***. I think that pleas like that should not be allowed as it's getting to the point where everyone who knows that they are going to be convicted tries to use that as a defense, and it's just tying up the CJ system. As previously stated, he committed two counts of first degree murder. If he, or anyone for that matter, is menatally competent enough to stand trial, he is mentally competent enough to pay the price for his actions.

Just an update to this thread:

Akbar was convicted last week by the unanimous vote of a 15-person jury, which deliberated 2½ hours before finding him guilty of two counts of premeditated murder and three counts of attempted murder.

Akbar now faces the death penalty,

Witness: Akbar Attack Compromised Iraq War

I would've thought it was treason too. An act against his own countrymen...that's treason to me