By George Frey
Associated Press
Saturday, February 21, 2009

VILSECK, Germany, Feb. 20 -- A military court has sentenced a U.S. Army medic convicted of murder for his role in the execution-style slayings of four bound and blindfolded Iraqi detainees to life in prison with the possibility of parole.

The sentence was handed down Friday night. Sgt. Michael P. Leahy Jr., 28, will also have his rank reduced to private, have his pay forfeited and be dishonorably discharged.

A nine-person jury found Leahy guilty of murder and conspiracy to commit murder. It acquitted him of murder in the death of another Iraqi in January 2007.

Leahy, of Lockport, Ill., had pleaded not guilty to several charges in the deaths of four Iraqi prisoners whose bodies were dumped in a Baghdad canal in March or April 2007. He had told military investigators that he shot one of the prisoners point-blank in the back of the head with a 9mm pistol.

In closing arguments, Leahy's civilian attorney, Frank Spinner, argued that Leahy went along with the killings because he was dazed from a lack of sleep and numb from being in a war zone for months.

"The tragedy resulted not so much by design but rather [from] the working of fear, danger and madness attendant on many combat operations," Spinner said.

The Iraqi prisoners had been taken to the U.S. unit's operating base in Baghdad for questioning and processing following a shootout with a patrol, although there was not enough evidence to hold them for attacking the unit. Later that night, according to testimony, patrol members took the Iraqis to a remote area and shot them.

Leahy, Master Sgt. John E. Hatley, 40, and Sgt. 1st Class Joseph P. Mayo, 27, are accused of pulling the trigger, the jury of seven men and two women was told.

Prosecutors contended that Leahy knew what he was doing after the four Iraqis had been taken into custody after the shootout.

"The defense can't just stand there and throw their arms up and say, 'We were protecting ourselves from future harm,' " Army Capt. Derrick Grace, the lead prosecutor, said, adding that the killings were the result of a breakdown in discipline and moral responsibility.

All of the accused were with the 1st Battalion, 18th Infantry Regiment, 2nd Brigade of the 1st Infantry Division in Iraq, now part of the Germany-based 172nd Infantry Brigade.

Three soldiers are scheduled for later courts-martial. Sgt. Charles Quigley, 28, of Providence, R.I., faces one charge of conspiracy to commit premeditated murder. Mayo and Hatley are charged with premeditated murder, conspiracy to commit premeditated murder and obstruction of justice.