A US soldier charged with murdering civilians and other crimes in Afghanistan appeared in court on Monday, as 11 other soldiers invoked their constitutional right not to testify in the case. Nine of the soldiers who declined to take the witness stand are among a dozen infantrymen of the 5th Stryker Brigade, based in Washington state, who are charged in a case stemming from their deployment in Afghanistan's Kandahar province.
The first soldier formally accused in the case, Army Specialist Jeremy Morlock, 22, is charged with premeditated murder in the deaths of three Afghan civilians, assaulting a fellow soldier and "wrongfully photographing and possessing visual images of human casualties."
In two of the slayings, fragmentary grenades were thrown at the victims and they were shot, according to charge sheets. The third victim also was shot. Morlock, from Wasilla, Alaska, wore standard Army combat fatigues and sat silently during the proceedings at Joint Base Lewis-McChord near Tacoma, Washington. If found guilty of all the charges against him, he could face the death penalty.
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