A former US Army soldier who pleaded guilty to killing an unarmed Afghan teen was granted early release for good behavior. Andrew Holmes of Boise, Idaho had been sentenced to seven years at the Ft. Leavenworth military prison in 2011.
Holmes was part of a “Kill Team,” a group of US Army soldiers belonging to the 2nd Infantry Division who were deployed in the Maywand district of Afghanistan’s Kandahar province in 2010. Justin Stoner, a private who blew the whistle on the group’s misconduct, testified that they murdered at least three Afghan civilians over the course of four months and kept their body parts as trophies.
Army Specialist Jeremy Morlock confessed to taking part in all three killings, and made a deal with the military prosecutors to testify against other soldiers in exchange for a 24-year sentence and a dishonorable discharge. Morlock implicated Holmes in the January 15, 2010 murder of Gul Mudin, a 15-year-old Afghan civilian. Both Morlock and Holmes had posed for pictures with the boy’s corpse.
Twelve soldiers were court-martialed on charges ranging from murder to interfering with the investigation and retaliation against the whistleblower. Eleven were convicted. Charges against one soldier were dismissed“in the interest of justice” in February 2011.
