U.S. Soldier Pleads Not Guilty in Iraqi Man's Death

Capt. Maynulet is accused of shooting an unarmed Iraqi. (File Photo)

WIESBADEN, Germany, March 29 -- A U.S. military court was shown shaky video from a surveillance drone aircraft as a court-martial began Monday for a U.S. tank commander accused of killing an Iraqi man who witnesses have said was already critically wounded.

Capt. Rogelio Maynulet, 30, of Chicago, pleaded not guilty. He could face a maximum sentence of 20 years if convicted of assault with intent to commit murder. Wearing full dress uniform, he stood as his attorney, Capt. Will Helixon, entered the plea.

The charges stem from an incident May 21 when Maynulet was leading his 1st Armored Division tank company on a patrol near the city of Kufa, south of Baghdad, where heavy fighting had been reported.

They encountered a car thought to be carrying a driver for the radical Shiite Muslim cleric Moqtada Sadr and another militiaman loyal to the cleric. U.S. soldiers chased the vehicle and fired at it, wounding both the driver and passenger.

When a medic pulled the driver out of the car, it was clear he had suffered critical injuries, with part of his skull blown away, according to testimony heard during Maynulet's Article 32 hearing, the military's equivalent of a civilian grand jury investigation.

The prosecutor, Capt. Dan Sennott, quoted Maynulet as having said later: "I then fired two rounds into the driver to be sure he was dead." Sennott argued that Maynulet had violated rules of engagement because the driver, although a paramilitary combatant, was injured and unarmed.

In the surveillance video, military Humvees were seen chasing a black sedan that crashed into a wall surrounding a house. The drone's camera then zoomed in on what appeared to be a man lying on the ground beside the crashed car, waving one arm. The outline of a soldier in a helmet and battle gear could then be seen aiming a weapon at the man. A flash followed. In a subsequent image, the man appeared to twitch as though hit again.

Maynulet's fellow officers said at the Article 32 hearing that he shot the man in an act of compassion to end his suffering.

Maynulet's command was suspended May 25, but he has remained with his unit, serving on the planning staff. He has not commented on the facts of the case, but Helixon, the attorney, said when his client was arraigned in December that he maintained "that his actions were justified."

Maynulet, whose wife, Brooke, and parents were in court, watched intently as the video was shown.