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Soldier sentenced to 18 years for murder

FORT CAMPBELL, Ky. — A 101st Airborne Division soldier was sentenced Thursday to 18 years in prison after he pleaded guilty to murdering three detainees during a raid on a suspected al-Qaida compound last year in Iraq.

Spc. William B. Hunsaker, 24, pleaded guilty to murder, attempted murder and obstruction of justice during a hearing at Fort Campbell.

Under his plea agreement, Hunsaker got a life sentence but will not serve more than 18 years in prison as long as he testifies against other soldiers accused in the case, said Col. Theodore Dixon, the military judge presiding over the court-martial. He will be eligible for parole in five-and-a-half years.

Hunsaker’s family members flooded the courtroom and wept when the sentencing was read Thursday afternoon. They declined to speak to the media.

In testimony during his court-martial, Hunsaker said he took “careful aim” at the detainees and tried to make the killings as “professional” as possible by shooting them in the chest and head. He also said he knew it was illegal but felt he was doing a greater good by killing detainees who might have been al-Qaida agents in Iraq.

“In his mind, he believed it was a lesser evil for a greater good,” said defense attorney Michael Waddington. “He’s willing to do the time that he’ll get, and he’ll do it proudly.”

As part of the agreement with prosecutors, charges that Hunsaker had threatened another soldier’s life if he told authorities of the killings were dropped. Dixon said Hunsaker’s rank will be reduced to a private, his pay will be forfeited and he will be dishonorably discharged.

Hunsaker was one of four soldiers charged in the killings that followed a May 9 raid at the Muthana chemical complex near Samarra, about 60 miles north of Baghdad.

The soldiers originally told investigators that they shot detainees because they were attempting to flee and that commanders told them to kill all military-age males — a story they now say they made up.

Hunsaker testified that his squad leader, Staff Sgt. Raymond Girouard, cut him on the face and arm to make it appear there was a struggle after he and Pfc. Corey R. Clagett, 21, killed the detainees.

Spc. Juston R. Graber, 21, pleaded guilty on Tuesday to a lesser charge of aggravated assault with a dangerous weapon as part of his agreement to cooperate with prosecutors. He was sentenced to nine months in military jail.

Clagett and Girouard are awaiting courts-martial in the coming months.

The lawyer representing Clagett, Paul Bergrin, of Morganville, N.J., was charged Wednesday with involvement in a Manhattan, N.Y., escort agency that laundered its proceeds through a fake company. Bergrin and two co-defendants were charged with money laundering, promoting prostitution and conspiracy.

Prosecutors at Fort Campbell said they did not know if Bergrin’s own legal woes would affect Clagett’s tentatively scheduled Jan. 29 court-martial.

During Thursday’s hearing, Hunsaker recounted in testimony a meeting during which he said Girouard ordered he and Clagett to kill detainees in their custody.

“He told us to cut the zip ties, tell them to run and shoot them,” Hunsaker said. “I went out and did just that.”

The case is one of two involving soldiers from the 101st Airborne Division accused of killing Iraqis during a deployment to Iraq that ended in September.

Four soldiers from the division’s 2nd Brigade Combat Team are accused of raping and killing an Iraqi teenager and killing three others in her family last March. A former Army private also faces murder and rape charges in federal court.