SEATTLE -- The five soldiers accused of killing three Afghan civilians over a period of months this year allegedly threw grenades at them and shot them with rifles, according to charging papers released Wednesday by Joint Base Lewis-McChord.
Two of the soldiers also are accused of beating and spitting at a fellow soldier who might have been an informant, while a third soldier is alleged to have tried to impede the investigation by obtaining a hard drive that contained evidence of the killings and asking a colleague to erase it.
In all, five soldiers from the same unit -- the 2nd Battalion, 1st Infantry Regiment of the 5th Stryker Brigade Combat Team -- now face charges. The men are accused in a series of slayings that took place between January and May in Kandahar Province. One of the soldiers is from Wasilla.
The investigation delivers a blow to the credibility of the U.S. military, which is seeking to win over local populations in advance of a major offensive. Kandahar Province is a focal point of the campaign against insurgent forces.
The Army has implicated two soldiers in all three killings as well as an attack on a fellow soldier.
The other three soldiers are alleged to have been involved in one killing each.
Lt. Col. Tamara Parker, a spokeswoman at Lewis-McChord, said she didn't expect any other soldiers to be charged. Pfc. Andrew Holmes, 19, Spc. Michael Wagnon, 29, and Spc. Adam Winfield, 21, were each returned to the base Monday and charged with one count of murder Tuesday. They are each being held in pretrial confinement, in the military equivalent of a jail.
A fourth soldier, Staff Sgt. Calvin Gibbs, 25, was charged last week in Kuwait with three counts of murder and one count of assault, said Parker. She said Gibbs is being transported back to the base located near Tacoma, Wash., and is expected to arrive this week.
Earlier this month, Spc. Jeremy Morlock, 22, of Wasilla was returned to the base from Afghanistan. He also is charged with three counts of premeditated murder and one count of assault.
"Sometimes soldiers do not live up to the values that we would expect," Parker said. "These men are charged with very serious crimes. I'm not aware of another case like this."
AN AFGHAN CONCERN
The investigation comes as Gen. Stanley McChrystal, the top U.S. commander, has put a big focus on trying to reduce civilian casualties caused by American and other NATO forces, which have been a major point of concern of the Afghan government.
McChrystal has issued more restrictive rules of engagement, and in policy memos said that the key to success in Afghanistan will be based on winning over civilians.
Parker, the base spokeswoman, said she knows "there is a lot of concern" about how the case will play out in Afghanistan, given that the military is trying to win not only battles but also hearts and minds.
THE WASILLA SOLDIER
Parker said that in the case of Morlock of Wasilla, the base already has called for an Article 32 hearing -- the military equivalent of a grand jury. A hearing date has yet to be set.
A military magistrate has reviewed Morlock's pretrial confinement and concluded it is warranted given the seriousness of the allegations, Parker said. Because the military doesn't have a bail system, that means Morlock likely will remain locked up until his case is concluded.
Morlock has a history of U.S. criminal charges.
Two years ago, his wife sought a domestic-violence protective order against him. Last year, he was charged with assault and disorderly conduct and found guilty of the latter charge. When he was 15, Morlock was charged in Alaska with leaving the scene of an accident involving an injury or death and received a deferred prosecution.
Morlock was on his first deployment when the alleged murders occurred.
The three civilian victims are identified as Gul Mudin, who died in January; Marach Agha, killed on or about Feb. 22; and Mullah Adahdad, killed on or around May 2.
The charging sheets say Morlock and Gibbs shot Agha and used fragmentary grenades and their rifles to kill Mudin and Adahdad.
Holmes is accused of throwing a grenade at and shooting Mudin, Winfield of doing the same to Adahdad, and Wagnon of shooting Agha.
The documents also allege Morlock hit and kicked a person on May 5 and spat in a victim's face. Gibbs also is accused of hitting and kicking a person on that date. All identifying information is redacted, including names, gender, whether one or more victims were involved and whether they were civilians.
Wagnon is further accused of impeding a criminal investigation by asking another soldier to erase a computer hard drive that contained evidence of the killings.
DEATH PENALTY POSSIBLE
Premeditated murder, the crime that the soldiers are charged with, is the most serious of four murder charges that can be levied under the military code of justice, according to Eugene Fidell, who teaches military law at Yale University. It carries the death penalty.
In cases involving multiple soldiers, military prosecutors, like their civilian counterparts, might cut deals with some defendants to gain evidence against other defendants.
"The prosecutors' door is likely to open, and they may have to make some wrenching decisions about whom to make a deal with to gain evidence," Fidell said.
The soldiers were part of a contingent of more than 3,800 soldiers in the 5th Brigade, a high-tech infantry unit. The brigade headed to Afghanistan last summer, and plunged into the thick of the fighting season in southern Afghanistan. The brigade has lost 36 soldiers in Afghanistan.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
By NICK PERRY and HAL BERNTON
The Seattle Times