Team Infidel
Forum Spin Doctor
Fayetteville (NC) Observer
September 19, 2008
By Henry Cuningham, Military editor
A court-martial will begin Jan. 7 for Master Sgt. Joseph D. Newell, who is accused murdering an unidentified Afghan man and cutting off his ear.
Newell, 38, was arraigned Wednesday at Fort Bragg on charges stemming from an incident during combat operations March 5 near Hyderabad, Afghanistan.
Newell is accused of shooting the unarmed man in the chest and chopping off his ear.
Newell’s lawyer, Todd Conormon, said during a hearing in August that Newell was set up by his team and should not be tried for murder. Other soldiers could have planted the human ear found in Newell’s room at their base in Afghanistan, Conormon said.
Newell is assigned to Headquarters and Headquarters Company of the 3rd Special Forces Group at Fort Bragg. At the time of the incident, Newell was a team sergeant with the group’s 2nd Battalion.
More than a dozen people testified during the August hearing, including members of the team Newell led.
Two said Newell showed them a human ear. One said he watched Newell shoot the man in the chest. Newell’s lawyer questioned their credibility.
Newell is accused of shooting the man while his team was traveling through the desert, bringing supplies to their base. Their convoy stopped when some of the supply trucks got stuck in the sand.
Newell and other soldiers stopped the man to question him because he seemed suspicious. They detained the man because he had a cell phone that contained a picture of a machine gun.
Sgt. 1st Class Rickey Derring, who was the gunner in Newell’s truck that day, testified that after they detained the man, they drove into the desert, where Newell questioned the man about his involvement with the Taliban.
Derring said that after the man denied being a member of the Taliban, Newell shot him in the chest.
An investigator who searched Newell’s room later found a human ear on a shelf.
September 19, 2008
By Henry Cuningham, Military editor
A court-martial will begin Jan. 7 for Master Sgt. Joseph D. Newell, who is accused murdering an unidentified Afghan man and cutting off his ear.
Newell, 38, was arraigned Wednesday at Fort Bragg on charges stemming from an incident during combat operations March 5 near Hyderabad, Afghanistan.
Newell is accused of shooting the unarmed man in the chest and chopping off his ear.
Newell’s lawyer, Todd Conormon, said during a hearing in August that Newell was set up by his team and should not be tried for murder. Other soldiers could have planted the human ear found in Newell’s room at their base in Afghanistan, Conormon said.
Newell is assigned to Headquarters and Headquarters Company of the 3rd Special Forces Group at Fort Bragg. At the time of the incident, Newell was a team sergeant with the group’s 2nd Battalion.
More than a dozen people testified during the August hearing, including members of the team Newell led.
Two said Newell showed them a human ear. One said he watched Newell shoot the man in the chest. Newell’s lawyer questioned their credibility.
Newell is accused of shooting the man while his team was traveling through the desert, bringing supplies to their base. Their convoy stopped when some of the supply trucks got stuck in the sand.
Newell and other soldiers stopped the man to question him because he seemed suspicious. They detained the man because he had a cell phone that contained a picture of a machine gun.
Sgt. 1st Class Rickey Derring, who was the gunner in Newell’s truck that day, testified that after they detained the man, they drove into the desert, where Newell questioned the man about his involvement with the Taliban.
Derring said that after the man denied being a member of the Taliban, Newell shot him in the chest.
An investigator who searched Newell’s room later found a human ear on a shelf.