Lewis-McChord soldier faces murder charge

JOINT BASE LEWIS-MCCHORD, Wash., Feb. 1 (UPI) -- A U.S. Army soldier will face a general court-martial for his alleged role in the killings of unarmed Afghan civilians in 2009, Joint Base Lewis-McChord said.

Lt. Gen. Curtis Scaparrotti, commander of the base in Washington state, rejected a recommendation by the presiding officer at the pretrial hearing of Spc. Michael Wagnon that a murder charge be dropped, and included murder and conspiracy to commit murder charges, The Seattle Times reported Tuesday.

"I think this is an incredible decision that flies in the face of the investigative officers' recommendation, the evidence and common sense," Colby Vokey, Wagnon's attorney, said.

Wagnon, 30, is one of five soldiers accused of murder in a war crimes investigation of the 5th Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division, which served in Afghanistan for a year beginning in the summer of 2009. Wagnon allegedly plotted with Spc. Jeremy Morlock and Staff Sgt. Calvin Gibbs to kill an unarmed Afghan civilian they met while on patrol in southern Afghanistan.

The investigating officer, Maj. Michael Liles, said did not find sufficient evidence that Wagnon knew of the plot when he fired at the Afghan man, the Times said.

"Spc. Wagnon's justification in my opinion is that he was coming to the aid of (Staff Sgt.) Gibbs, whom he believed was in contact with an enemy combatant," Liles wrote in his report.

The court-martial has not been scheduled.