U.S. Soldier Pleads Guilty to Murdering 3 Afghan Civilians

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AP / U.S. Army

U.S. Army Cpl. Jeremy Morlock

After working out a plea bargain that shortened his time in prison from a life sentence to 24 years, Spc. Jeremy Morlock pleaded guilty Thursday to deliberately killing Afghan civilians last year and agreed to talk about his alleged Army accomplices.  —KA

UPI.com:

Spc. Jeremy Morlock, one of five soldiers from an Army Stryker armored fighting vehicle brigade from Joint Base Lewis-McChord in southwest Washington state accused of staging combat situations to kill three civilians in Afghanistan last year, told Army Judge Lt. Col. Kwasi Hawks the deaths were neither justified nor accidental.

"The plan was to kill people, sir," Morlock said at the start of a court-martial, in which Morlock pleaded guilty to three counts of premeditated murder, conspiracy to commit murder and assault.

His platoon served in southern Afghanistan from summer 2009 to summer 2010.

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