CID agent testifies in fragging trial

[unhappycamper]

CID agent testifies in fragging trial
The Associated Press
Posted : Tuesday Nov 18, 2008 6:14:44 EST

FORT BRAGG, N.C. — Defense attorneys for a New York Army National Guard soldier accused of killing two superior officers in Iraq asked witnesses about the Army’s investigation to trace the antipersonnel mine suspected in the fatal blast.

Special Agent Paul McNelly of the Army’s Criminal Investigation Command (CID) was the first witness when testimony resumed in the court-martial of Staff Sgt. Alberto Martinez, who has pleaded not guilty to premeditated murder in the deaths of Capt. Phillip Esposito of Suffern, N.Y., and 1st Lt. Louis Allen of Milford, Pa.

Prosecutors say Martinez planted and detonated an antipersonnel mine in the window of the officers’ room in 2005. Earlier witnesses have said Martinez and Esposito had a tense relationship because Esposito thought Martinez’s management of the unit’s supply room was lax.

Defense attorney Maj. John Gregory asked McNelly on Monday about an interview he conducted with Staff Sgt. Amy Harlan, a supply noncommissioned officer deployed to the same forward operating base where Martinez and the victims were stationed.

Defense attorneys asked the investigator whether he would have asked Harlan follow-up questions about Claymore mines if he had known she turned one in to Martinez’s unit. That line of questioning prompted an objection from prosecutors, who unsuccessfully argued it was irrelevant to have Army investigators testify about questions that went unasked.


Rest of article at: http://www.armytimes.com/news/2008/11/ap_martinez_111808/%2e