GI guilty in detainees' deaths in Iraq

VILSECK, Germany, April 15 (UPI) -- A U.S. Army sergeant was found guilty in Germany Wednesday of having killed four prisoners while on duty in Iraq.

A military jury deliberated nearly 4 hours before convicting Master Sgt. John Hatley of premeditated murder and conspiracy in the 2007 slayings of the four bound and blindfolded detainees, whose identities were never determined and whose bodies haven't been found since they allegedly were dumped in a canal near Baghdad, Stars and Stripes reported.

The military panel acquitted Hatley on an unrelated count that he murdered or wounded another detainee on a Baghdad street earlier in 2007, the newspaper said. He also was acquitted of trying to cover up the canal killings.

Hatley faces either life with the chance for parole or life without when the jury considers sentencing Thursday.

Hatley, 40, is the third soldier from the 172nd Infantry Brigade to be convicted in the detainees' deaths. The other two, Sgt. 1st Class Joseph P. Mayo, 27, and Sgt. Michael Leahy, 28, were convicted earlier and sentenced to prison.