BAGHDAD — A military jury on Sunday convicted an Army sniper of murder and sentenced him to 10 years in prison for killing an Iraqi civilian who wandered into the hiding place where six soldiers were sleeping.
Sgt. Evan Vela, 24, was found guilty of murder without premeditation, of aiding and abetting in planting an AK-47 on the dead man’s body and of lying to military investigators about the shooting. He will receive a dishonorable discharge.
On May 11, the six soldiers had gone to sleep inside their “hide” — where snipers can observe targets without being seen — near Iskandariyah, south of Baghdad, when Genei Nasir al-Janabi stumbled upon them, Vela and fellow Army snipers testified.
The snipers detained al-Janabi and the man’s 17-year-old son Mustafa. They freed the boy, but minutes after he walked off, the commander ordered Vela to shoot the father. The soldiers said al-Janabi was making noise and they feared he was trying to attract the attention of a group of military-age males they thought they saw nearby.
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