Green Beret arraigned in desecration of body

Green Beret arraigned in desecration of body

The Associated Press
Posted : Friday Sep 19, 2008 10:06:56 EDT

FORT BRAGG, N.C. — A Special Forces soldier will be court-martialed early next year on charges that he killed an Afghan civilian and cut off his ear near a remote village, the Army said Thursday.

Master Sgt. Joseph D. Newell, 38, of Tecumseh, Mich., was arraigned Wednesday on charges of murder and desecration of a body.

Prosecutors say Newell shot an unidentified man his team encountered during a convoy March 5 near the village of Hyderabad in southern Afghanistan’s Helmand province.

Officials at Fort Bragg held a hearing last month to determine whether there was enough evidence to formally charge Newell.

His attorney, Todd Conormon, argued that evidence against Newell was weak and charges should be dismissed. He said Newell was being “treated like a terrorist” and was a victim of a conspiracy among some soldiers on his team to get rid of him.

Prosecutors said Newell showed the ear to several soldiers.
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If he did it, does anyone know why he did it? Seems out of the ordinary for someone to do something like this in this day and age. Other cultures in other centuries would think it was a war trophy to take part of someone they killed but not in this culture or this century. What would be behind something like this? Was he on drugs? Was he wounded by PTSD? Was his character before pointing toward signs that he would be capable of something like this? This situation comes with many questions that need to be answered.