FORT STEWART, Ga., May 26 (UPI) -- A military jury in Georgia has found U.S. Army Sgt. Joseph Bozicevich of Minneapolis guilty of murdering two fellow soldiers in Iraq in 2008.
Because the verdict was not unanimous, Bozicevich escaped the death penalty, McClatchy Newspapers reported. Bozicevich claimed the killings were in self-defense.
He admitted during trial he shot Staff Sgt. Darris Dawson and Sgt. Wesley Durbin because they allegedly aimed rifles at his head and threatened to kill him if he didn't sign off on their written reports about him.
The case delivered a blow to the military's top crime lab when presiding military Judge Col. Tara Osborn told jurors to disregard testimony from government fingerprint analyst because she made a mistake on a proficiency test.
Charles Gittins, Bozicevich's attorney, said he didn't know if the judge's comments about the fingerprint expert played any role in the jury's decision to convict his client.
"But there was at least one (juror) who wasn't buying the premeditated murder charge," he said.
Bozicevich faces life in prison, with or without the possibility of parole. He will be sentenced later.
