Post by SoulTrainOz on Jul 24, 2006 7:17:53 GMT -5
A Norfolk-based sailor faces the death penalty for the alleged murder of a Marine in a wooded area in rural North Carolina last January. According to the Virginian-Pilot newspaper, this is the 1st time in almost 50 years the Navy has sought the death penalty in a murder case.
The commander of Navy Region Mid-Atlantic announced Thursday that the sailor, Engineman 3rd Class Cooper Jackson, 22, of Boones Mill, Va., will go before a general court-martial on charges of premeditated murder, kidnapping, impersonating a Naval Criminal Investigative Service agent and obstruction of justice.
Under military law, the penalty for premeditated murder is death or life imprisonment. The mandatory minimum penalty on all the charges would be life in prison with the possibility of parole, forfeiture of all pay and allowances, reduction in rate to E-1 and a dishonorable discharge.
Rear Adm. Rick Ruehe referred the charges following a June Article 32 hearing into the death of Cpl. Justin L. Huff. An Article 32 is similar to a preliminary hearing in the civilian justice system. The court-martial date has not been set.
Huff, 23, of Indianapolis, was reported missing Jan. 2 after failing to report to a military class in Virginia Beach, Va., where both men were students. NCIS agents found Huff's stabbed, burned and buried body on Jan. 13 in a wooded area in Currituck County, N.C., according to region officials. An investigation led agents to Jackson.
According to official charge sheets released by the Navy, Jackson told and apparently convinced Huff that he was an NCIS agent on more than one occasion, allegedly using the guise to place handcuffs on the Marine and get him into a truck.
The cause of death was homicide, according to the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner in Greenville, N.C. Officials have not released a motive.
Huff was permanently assigned to Brigade Service Support Group 1, 1st Marine Logistics Group, 1 Marine Expeditionary Force. He had deployed twice in support of Operations Enduring Freedom and Iraqi Freedom and had been awarded the Combat Action Ribbon, Iraq Campaign Medal and the Marine Corps Good Conduct Medal.
Jackson has been held since Jan. 13 at the Navy Brig at Norfolk Naval Station.
(source: US Navy Times)
The commander of Navy Region Mid-Atlantic announced Thursday that the sailor, Engineman 3rd Class Cooper Jackson, 22, of Boones Mill, Va., will go before a general court-martial on charges of premeditated murder, kidnapping, impersonating a Naval Criminal Investigative Service agent and obstruction of justice.
Under military law, the penalty for premeditated murder is death or life imprisonment. The mandatory minimum penalty on all the charges would be life in prison with the possibility of parole, forfeiture of all pay and allowances, reduction in rate to E-1 and a dishonorable discharge.
Rear Adm. Rick Ruehe referred the charges following a June Article 32 hearing into the death of Cpl. Justin L. Huff. An Article 32 is similar to a preliminary hearing in the civilian justice system. The court-martial date has not been set.
Huff, 23, of Indianapolis, was reported missing Jan. 2 after failing to report to a military class in Virginia Beach, Va., where both men were students. NCIS agents found Huff's stabbed, burned and buried body on Jan. 13 in a wooded area in Currituck County, N.C., according to region officials. An investigation led agents to Jackson.
According to official charge sheets released by the Navy, Jackson told and apparently convinced Huff that he was an NCIS agent on more than one occasion, allegedly using the guise to place handcuffs on the Marine and get him into a truck.
The cause of death was homicide, according to the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner in Greenville, N.C. Officials have not released a motive.
Huff was permanently assigned to Brigade Service Support Group 1, 1st Marine Logistics Group, 1 Marine Expeditionary Force. He had deployed twice in support of Operations Enduring Freedom and Iraqi Freedom and had been awarded the Combat Action Ribbon, Iraq Campaign Medal and the Marine Corps Good Conduct Medal.
Jackson has been held since Jan. 13 at the Navy Brig at Norfolk Naval Station.
(source: US Navy Times)