Murder trail points to war trauma

Army Ranger Sgt. Gary Smith is accused of killing fellow Ranger Spc. Michael A. McQueen II.
Montgomery County Police Department / AP

Murder Trial Points to War Trauma
Thursday, Mar. 27, 2008
By MARK THOMPSON/WASHINGTON

A Maryland murder trial is being turned into a debate on the lingering traumatic impact of the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq on the psyche of the Americans who served there. The prosecution is trying to prove that Gary Smith, a one-time Army Ranger, murdered his roommate of 20 days and fellow Ranger Michael McQueen, 22, by putting a .38-caliber revolver to his right temple and pulling the trigger. Smith's attorney, however, notes that the 25-year-old former sergeant has been diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder following repeated combat tours, and insists that McQueen committed suicide, drunk, despondent and unemployed.

Whether McQueen's death was a murder or a suicide, the tale offers a rare window into the grim realities of post-war mental trauma. As the odometer of war clicks past 4,000 killed in Iraq, and approaches 500 in Afghanistan, it's stories like those about the Ranger roommates that often fall below the nation's radar screen. The Army introduced these two men to one another — McQueen was African-American; Smith is white — and dispatched them to Afghanistan together twice, in 2004 and 2005. There, it seems one or both became unhinged by the experience. But in a country that rescues Wall Street banks from ruin while down-on-their-luck homeowners find themselves suddenly homeless, the prosecution would prefer to keep the focus of the trial in the Rockville, Maryland, courthouse away from the war.

"This is a homicide — Gary Smith is the person that did it," prosecutor John Maloney said in his opening argument March 18 in what is expected to be a two-week trial. "The most important thing you'll bring to your deliberations is your common sense." But Smith's attorney, Andrew Jezic, said McQueen was unemployed, not in school and drinking heavily when he killed himself. Smith, upset at the death of a war buddy, tried to hide how he died to preserve McQueen's dignity — and to avoid being implicated — according to police files. "There is no motive in this case," Jezic said. "Zero."

go here for the rest

http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,1725860,00.html

Expert: Sgt. Gary Smith, Suspect in Ranger death was near gun

Expert: Suspect in Ranger death was near gun

By Ben Nuckols - The Associated Press
Posted : Thursday Mar 20, 2008 18:16:48 EDT

ROCKVILLE, Md. — A forensic scientist testified Thursday that an analysis of blood spatter patterns indicates an Army Ranger charged with killing a fellow soldier was next to the man when he was fatally shot.

Sgt. Gary Smith, 25, is accused of killing Spc. Michael A. McQueen II, 22, in September 2006 in the suburban Washington apartment they had shared for about three weeks. Smith’s attorneys argue that McQueen shot himself and that Smith threw the gun in a nearby lake in a misguided attempt to cover for his buddy.

William T. Vosburgh, forensic lab director for District of Columbia police, said he identified the outline of a shoe and a handprint in the blood on the carpet.

Vosburgh’s testimony is crucial to the prosecution’s case because the state must prove that Smith was close enough to McQueen to have pressed the gun against McQueen’s temple before firing.

Vosburgh also noted that Smith had large amounts of blood on his left hand and on his right pants leg and shoe when he was questioned by police, according to photographs presented in court.

“At some point, the shoe and the pant leg had to be under that bleeding source,” he said.

Under cross-examination, Vosburgh acknowledged that McQueen’s arm could have been raised when he was shot.

Andrew Jezic, Smith’s attorney, said in his opening statement that Smith had no reason to kill his friend, and prosecutors have not offered a motive. Both sides concede there is no direct evidence McQueen was suicidal.

McQueen’s father, Mike, is the New Orleans bureau chief for the Associated Press.
http://www.armytimes.com/news/2008/03/ap_rangertrial_032008/

Spc. Michael A. McQueen II Competing theories in Ranger slaying trial

Competing theories in Ranger slaying trial

By Ben Nuckols - The Associated Press
Posted : Tuesday Mar 18, 2008 19:55:05 EDT

ROCKVILLE, Md. — An Army Ranger accused of killing a fellow Ranger went to trial Tuesday, with prosecutors accusing Sgt. Gary Smith of lying to police to cover up his crime.

Smith’s attorney told a different story. He said Spc. Michael A. McQueen II committed suicide and Smith, despondent over the loss of his buddy, tried to cover up the circumstances of the death by removing evidence from the scene.

McQueen, 22, who was raised in Miami, died of a single gunshot to the right temple on the night of Sept. 25, 2006, in the apartment that he had begun sharing with Smith just 20 days earlier. After McQueen’s death, Smith threw the weapon, a .38-caliber revolver, in a nearby lake before calling 911. He was covered in McQueen’s blood and had gunshot residue on his hands when he was arrested.

Both sides in the case concede there was no direct evidence McQueen was suicidal and no concrete motive for Smith to kill him. Although they dispute the closeness of the young men’s friendship, the two had served together in Afghanistan and had spent a lot of time partying together in the brief time they lived in the apartment in Gaithersburg, about 20 miles outside of Washington.

“There is no motive in this case. Zero,” said Andrew Jezic, Smith’s attorney.
go here for the rest
http://www.armytimes.com/news/2008/03/ap_ranger_trial_031808/