Guilty Akbar could face death penalty
FORT BRAGG, N.C. (Army News Service, April 22, 2005) – Sgt. Hasan Akbar, the former 101st Airborne Division Soldier accused of the March 23, 2003 grenade attack on three tents in Kuwait, was found guilty April 21.
A court-martial panel of nine officers and six non-comissioned officers deliberated for 2.5 hours before returning the verdict by a unanimous vote: guilty of two specifications of premeditated murder and three specifications of attempted premeditated murder.
Akbar now faces three possible sentences: life in prison, life in prison without the possibility of parole, or death.
Akbar was convicted of a grenade attack on three tents in Camp Pennsylvania, Kuwait, that took the lives of Capt. Christopher Seifert and Maj. Gregory Stone. Fourteen others were wounded from the 101st Airborne Division, Fort Campbell, Ky., in the night grenade attack during the early days of Operation Iraqi Freedom.
Maj. Richard Patterson, public affairs officer for Task Force Bragg, said that although Thursday’s unanimous verdict means Akbar is eligible for the death penalty, the court must make other unanimous findings for that penalty to be imposed.
Patterson said the court must find unanimously that the Army has proved aggravating circumstances, and make a second finding that the aggravating circumstances outweigh any mitigating factor raised by the defense.
The sentencing phase was set to begin at 9 a.m. April 25.
(Editor’s note: Information provided by Task Force Bragg Public Affairs.)
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