Deaths of Phillip Esposito and Louis Allen

Deaths of Phillip Esposito and Louis Allen
A temporary memorial to Phillip Esposito and Louis Allen erected in Tikrit shortly after their deaths.
Date:	June 7, 2005
Place:	Forward Operating Base Danger, Tikrit, Iraq
Charge:	Two counts of premeditated murder
Result:	Acquittal

The deaths of Phillip Esposito and Louis Allen were caused on June 7, 2005, at Forward Operating Base Danger in Tikrit, Iraq. Captain Phillip Esposito and First Lieutenant Louis Allen, from a New York Army National Guard unit of the United States 42nd Infantry Division, were killed by a Claymore mine placed in the window of Esposito's office.

Military investigators determined that the mine was deliberately placed and detonated with the intention of killing Esposito and Allen. Staff Sergeant Alberto B. Martinez from the officers' unit was charged in the killing but was acquitted in a court martial trial at Fort Bragg, North Carolina, on December 4, 2008. The case was one of only two publicly-announced alleged fragging incidents among American forces during the Iraq war.

Killing

On the evening of June 7, 2005, Captain Phillip Esposito, 30, of Suffern, New York, and First Lieutenant Louis Allen, 34, of Milford, Pennsylvania, were playing the board game Risk in Esposito's office in the Water Palace building on the United States Forward Operating Base Danger in Tikrit, Iraq. The officers were from the Headquarters and Headquarters Company of the 42nd Infantry Division, a New York Army National Guard unit from Troy, New York deployed to Iraq in support of US operations in the Iraq War. Esposito was the company commander and Allen was the company's operations officer. At 10 p.m., a claymore mine placed next to the window of Esposito's office exploded, blasting 700 steel ball bearings into the office space and critically wounding the two officers.^[1]

Seconds after the explosion, several grenades exploded in the vicinity of Esposito's office. Shortly thereafter, the two injured officers were rushed to a hospital at Forward Operating Base Speicher, but both died early June 8, 2005, from serious internal injuries suffered in the explosion.^[2]

Esposito, a project manager for Smith Barney in Manhattan, was survived by a wife and an 18-month-old daughter. Allen, a high-school physics and earth sciences teacher in Tuxedo, New York, was survived by a wife and four young sons.^[3]

Focus on Martinez

Military investigators initially thought that the two officers were killed by an insurgent mortar or rocket attack but later determined that the blast was deliberately caused by a hand-placed explosive device and began looking for suspects. Staff Sergeant Alberto B. Martinez, 37 from Schaghticoke, New York, Esposito's and Allen's unit's supply sergeant, was arrested and charged with the crime.^[4]

Alberto B. Martinez

Witnesses later testified that Martinez had openly threatened to kill Esposito. Esposito had disciplined Martinez for poor job performance and had initiated proceedings which might have resulted in Martinez being discharged from the military or removed from his full-time Guard position.^[5] Witnesses placed Martinez in the vicinity of the Water Palace shortly after the explosion.^[6]

At an Article 32 hearing in Kuwait in October and November 2005, Colonel Patrick Reinert recommended a general court-martial for Martinez based on the evidence presented. Esposito's and Allen's widows traveled to Kuwait and were present at the hearing.^[7]

After learning of additional evidence against him, including testimony from a soldier who stated that she had given Martinez claymore mines and grenades shortly before the killings, Martinez, on April 3, 2006, agreed to plead guilty to murder in exchange for a life sentence without the possibility of parole. Lieutenant General John Vines, commander of the XVIII Airborne Corps and convening authority over the legal proceedings, however, rejected the plea agreement and sent the case to court-martial under two counts of premeditated murder, Article 118 of the Uniform Code of Military Justice.^[8]

The court-martial was held at Fort Bragg, North Carolina, beginning in October 2008 with Colonel Stephen Henley sitting as the trial judge. During the trial, Sergeant Sandra Pelton, a 42nd Division cook, testified for the prosecution that Martinez twice mentioned fragging when he came through her dining facility a few days before the explosion. On one occasion Pelton asked Martinez how he was doing and Martinez made a noise simulating an explosion and said, "Frag him, frag. I mean it."^[9] Around 20 other soldiers and officers testified that they had heard Martinez threaten or insult Esposito.^[10]

Martinez' defense team countered that the Army's evidence against Martinez was circumstantial and that prosecution witnesses' testimonies were inconsistent. The defense team also presented evidence that Martinez was not the only soldier in the unit with a grudge against Esposito. After two days of deliberations, the jury acquitted Martinez on December 4, 2008. Martinez was honorably discharged from the military shortly thereafter. The US Army has not publicly identified or charged any other suspects in the killings.^[8]

The case was one of only two publicly known instances of US enlisted soldiers charged with intentionally killing superior officers during the Iraq war. In 2005, Hasan Akbar was convicted of killing two officers in Kuwait in 2003 and sentenced to death.^[8]

References

Notes

Web

• Army Times (April 18, 2007). "Defense for alleged fragger asks for more time". Military Times. http://www.militarytimes.com/news/2007/04/army_fragger_Martinez_070418w/. Retrieved February 23, 2009. 
• Army Times (October 17, 2007). "Soldier to receive fragging hearing Thursday". Military Times. http://www.armytimes.com/news/2007/10/army_article32_071016w/. Retrieved February 23, 2009. 
• Associated Press (August 22, 2008). "Judge refuses to dismiss Martinez charges". Military Times. http://www.armytimes.com/news/2008/08/ap_braggcharges_082108/. Retrieved February 23, 2009. 
• Associated Press (November 3, 2006). "Soldier accused of killing superior officer arraigned at Fort Bragg". International Herald Tribune. http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2006/11/03/america/NA_GEN_US_Iraq_Officers_Killed.php. Retrieved February 23, 2009. 
• Associated Press (December 4, 2008). "'Fragging' jurors find Martinez not guilty in murder of 2 local officers". recordonline.com. http://www.recordonline.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20081204/NEWS/81204047. Retrieved February 23, 2009. 
• CBS and Associated Press (June 16, 2005). "Soldier Charged In Officer Deaths". CBS News. http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2005/06/16/iraq/main702486.shtml. Retrieved February 23, 2009. 
• Easley, Hema (June 16, 2005). "More than 500 attend Esposito funeral". The Journal News. http://www.lohud.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20050616/NEWS03/105240004. Retrieved February 23, 2009. 
• Gavin, Robert (December 16, 2008). "Army Staff Sergeant Alberto Martinez, Acquitted of Murder of Two Officers in Iraq, Speaks with Reporter" (Reprint of newspaper article). Times Union (Albany). http://www.veteransforcommonsense.org/articleid/11899. Retrieved February 23, 2009. ^{[dead link]}
• Gavin, Robert (December 16, 2008). "Army said no to guilty plea". Times Union (Albany). http://www.timesunion.com/AspStories/storyprint.asp?StoryID=772612. Retrieved February 23, 2009. ^{[dead link]}
• Giordono, Joseph (November 1, 2005). "Hearing starts for soldier accused of fragging in Iraq". Stars and Stripes. http://www.stripes.com/article.asp?section=104&article=32682. Retrieved February 23, 2009. 
• Giordono, Joseph (June 18, 2005). "Guardsman faces murder charges in deaths of two officers at FOB Danger". Stars and Stripes. http://www.stripes.com/article.asp?section=104&article=29815. Retrieved February 23, 2009. 
• Giordono, Joseph (November 2, 2005). "Court-martial advised in alleged fragging". Stars and Stripes. http://www.stripes.com/article.asp?section=104&article=32707. Retrieved February 23, 2009. 
• Operation Iraqi Freedom (June 23, 2005). "Rainbow Division Soldiers mourn fallen comrades" (Press release). Multinational force in Iraq. http://www.mnf-iraq.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=3818&Itemid=21. Retrieved February 23, 2009. 
• Thompson, Estes (November 25, 2008). "Defense wraps up in fragging court-martial". Military Times. http://www.armytimes.com/news/2008/11/ap_fragging_martinez_112408/. Retrieved February 23, 2009. 
• von Zielbauer, Paul (February 21, 2009). "After Guilty Plea Offer, G.I. Cleared of Iraq Deaths" (Newspaper article). New York Times. http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/21/nyregion/21frag.html?partner=rss&emc=rss. Retrieved February 23, 2009. 
• Woolverton, Paul, and Corey G. Johnson (December 5, 2008). "Jury acquits Martinez of murder charges" (Newspaper article). Fayetteville Observer. http://www.fayobserver.com/article?id=312305. Retrieved February 23, 2009. ^{[dead link]}
• Zucchino, David (November 29, 2008). "For two widows, a soldier's trial is their battlefield" (Newspaper article). Los Angeles Times. http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-widows29-2008nov29,0,6412370.story?page=1. Retrieved February 23, 2009.