Sadly, within the same platoon that was hit with the IED allegedly planted by Ali Mansur’s people, there are soldiers that have serious PTSD and Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI) from that incident. In addition, one of those soldiers, has struggled to adjust to being home. These soldiers should not be forgotten either. Read More
Behenna’s Sentence Reduced a Second Time
LT Behenna recently received a second reduction in sentence. Last Thursday, the Army’s Parole Board apparently reduced LT Behenna’s sentence from 20 years of confinement to 15 years of confinement. This is the second reduction that LT Behenna has received. The Convening Authority of the 101st Airborne Division had previously reduced his sentence from 25… Read More
LT Behenna’s ongoing defense.
LT Behenna and SSG Warner were both part of a very tragic story. Several weeks before the killing of Ali Mansur took place, LT Behenna’s squad had captured Ali Mansur at his home. They had credible information to believe he was part of Al Qaeda and that he was a terrorist that had been involved in the death of several of LT Behenna’s squad members. The members of LT Behenna’s squad, along with SSG Warner, showed restrained at that time. If they had wanted to, they could have easily made up a plausible story that Ali Mansur resisted his capture. There were illegal weapons at Ali Mansur’s home and it would have been a simple matter to kill him during the armed take down of that home. But, that is not what happened. Read More
Behenna Mistrial Denied
By compromising the verdict, the military judges recommended a reasonable sentence, in the face of the military panels verdict, and the difficulties in compromised evidence. Read More
SSG Warner heads home
I (www.jamesphillipslaw.com) spoke to SSG Mitch Warner’s family on Monday morning. They solidly stand behind Mitch and are now beginning to gather the evidence required for us to put on an appeal for SSG Warner. In speaking to them, they spoke of their disappointment with the US Army and the decision-making that lead to the… Read More
Behenna’s Verdict
In the end, the panel had to decide whether or not LT Behenna had shot a human being point blank in the forehead or whether or not this was “just an Iraqi.” The tempation for the defense is to say that this is just an Iraqi. Who cares? How many times has an Iraqi been killed in one combat operation or another? Read More
Day Three LT Behenna Trial
Lead defense counsel Jack Zimmerman had a very good methodical cross on “Harry.” He got harry to say that Ali Mansur was a “Bad Man” or a “terrorist” numerous times. He also was able to create a defense opening in the fact that Harry did not see several critical moments during the shooting.
