Camp Arifjan, Kuwait – A U.S. soldier could face the death penalty after an Army probe recommended Tuesday that he be court-martialed in the Iraq war’s first case of alleged “fragging,” slang for the killing of superior officers.
Staff Sgt. Alberto Martinez of Troy, N.Y., had a “personal vendetta” against one of two higher-ranking officers who died in a blast June 7 on a U.S. base near Tikrit, Col. Patrick Reinert, a military investigator, said at the end of a two- day hearing in Kuwait.
Reinert said he found reasonable cause to believe that Martinez, 37, planted and detonated an anti-personnel mine in the window of a room used by Capt. Philip Esposito, 30, of Suffern, N.Y., and Lt. Louis Allen, 34 of Milford, Pa., in a former palace of Saddam Hussein’s.
Three hand grenades also were allegedly used in the attack.
Reinert recommended that Martinez, 37, face a court-martial and said he found aggravating factors that could allow for capital punishment if the case goes to a military tribunal.
Lt. Gen. John Vines, the commander of the Multi-National Force Iraq, will decide whether there will be a court-martial and where it would be held.
Esposito and Allen initially were thought to have died as a result of “indirect fire” on the base, but according to the testimony of Senior Master Sgt. Kevin Fitzgerald, an expert on explosives, fragments of a Claymore mine and parts of three grenades were found at the scene.
No clear motive was discussed in the hearing, but a legal expert, Maj. Matthew Ruzicka, said that Esposito had relieved Martinez of his supply duties and that Martinez was afraid the measure would affect his civilian job back home.
Martinez joined the New York Army National Guard in December 1990. He was deployed to Iraq sometime after October 2004 with the 42nd Infantry.
