softheart
12-13-2003, 03:41 PM
Dec. 12, 2003
ROBERT BURNS, Associated Press
WASHINGTON - On moving day in Cheryl Irwin's Pentagon office, she chanced
upon an artifact of American military history that had been tucked away
for decades in a nondescript cabinet.
"The first thing I saw was that it was handwritten," she said.
Next she noticed the title: "Executed Death Cases Before 1951."
The document is a ledger with the names of 169 members of the U.S.
military, plus seven German prisoners of war, who were convicted of crimes
punishable by death and executed. Also listed were a few dozen other
death-sentence cases in which the convicted person was not executed.
Richard Dieter, executive director of the Death Penalty Information
Center, which collects research on military and civilian death penalty
cases, said he had never heard of an official Pentagon list of executions.
Some are listed only by last name. Case number 315055 was "Norman," whose
rank is listed as corporal, convicted of violating Article 92 of the
Uniform Code of Military Justice (disobeying an order or regulation) while
in the "West Pacific" in January 1947. Nothing more specific is mentioned
about his offense, but the result is clear. He was sentenced to death, and
the final entry behind his name, in the "remarks" column, is "Executed
(hanged)."
Article 92 has been used to punish capital crimes that the UCMJ does not
specify.
Another, Pvt. Boston, was executed Aug. 1, 1945. "To be shot," says a
handwritten notation.
The fact that these executions occurred is not a revelation, but it is a
reminder that death sentences for offenses by military members are rare
today. Seven men are on the military's death row today, and military
judges have put no one to death since 1961.
Under the Uniform Code of Military Justice, 15 offenses are punishable by
death. Many of the 15, including desertion and disobeying a superior
officer's order, carry the death penalty only in time of war.
The ledger became known, purely by accident, as the Pentagon prepares to
hold military trials for some of the accused terrorists held at a
detention center in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. President Bush has designated
six prisoners who could be tried, and with one exception - Australian
David Hicks, accused of training with al-Qaida terrorists - each could get
the death penalty if convicted.
Irwin unearthed the execution list Thursday while clearing out a file
cabinet in the Pentagon's main public affairs office, which is moving to a
newly renovated section of the building. When she grabbed an armful of old
files to throw out, a document fell to the floor.
The neat, orderly list is partly handwritten, partly typed on seven sheets
of slightly yellowed paper. It does not indicate who compiled the list or
why, nor is it dated. It carries the handwritten title, "Executed Death
Cases before 1951," although some were later.
Most were from 1944-45. The earliest was in 1942.
The latest case was Pvt. John A. Bennett, hanged April 13, 1961, after he
was convicted of rape and attempted murder. He was the last member of the
U.S. military to be executed.
Of the nearly 200 listed, many were hanged. Some were shot. In some cases,
the means of execution is not mentioned.
Details of the crimes are not listed, although in one, "German rape case"
is noted after the May 30, 1944, execution date.
The list includes one case that was the subject of a television movie, the
desertion case of Pvt. Eddie Slovik. He is the only member of the American
military executed for desertion since the Civil War.
Slovik was 24 when he was shot by a firing squad Jan. 31, 1945, and buried
among the graves of other U.S. soldiers hanged for charges that included
rape and murder. His execution, approved by then-Gen. Dwight D.
Eisenhower, was kept secret by the Army until nine years later.
The Slovik entry on the execution list is case number 290498, and it says
simply that he was shot, listing the date of the execution and the date of
his trial (Nov. 11, 1944). In an apparent clerical error, he is listed as
having violated Article 58 of the Uniform Code of Military Justice. It
actually was Article 85, the provision that says it is unlawful to desert.
After the 1974 movie, called "The Execution of Private Slovik," starring
Martin Sheen, supporters of the Slovik family waged a campaign to clear
his name, asserting he had been denied a fair trial.
The Pentagon reviewed the case and ruled in 1977 that the execution had
been justified.
The State Department and Army approved the exhumation of his remains from
a cemetery in France after one of Slovik's sisters made a formal request.
He was reburied in Detroit in July 1987.
Other cases on the execution list are seven POWs - all Germans listed as
having been hanged July 28, 1945, after being convicted of disobeying an
order or regulation. No details are provided.
-----
Source : Associated Press
ROBERT BURNS, Associated Press
WASHINGTON - On moving day in Cheryl Irwin's Pentagon office, she chanced
upon an artifact of American military history that had been tucked away
for decades in a nondescript cabinet.
"The first thing I saw was that it was handwritten," she said.
Next she noticed the title: "Executed Death Cases Before 1951."
The document is a ledger with the names of 169 members of the U.S.
military, plus seven German prisoners of war, who were convicted of crimes
punishable by death and executed. Also listed were a few dozen other
death-sentence cases in which the convicted person was not executed.
Richard Dieter, executive director of the Death Penalty Information
Center, which collects research on military and civilian death penalty
cases, said he had never heard of an official Pentagon list of executions.
Some are listed only by last name. Case number 315055 was "Norman," whose
rank is listed as corporal, convicted of violating Article 92 of the
Uniform Code of Military Justice (disobeying an order or regulation) while
in the "West Pacific" in January 1947. Nothing more specific is mentioned
about his offense, but the result is clear. He was sentenced to death, and
the final entry behind his name, in the "remarks" column, is "Executed
(hanged)."
Article 92 has been used to punish capital crimes that the UCMJ does not
specify.
Another, Pvt. Boston, was executed Aug. 1, 1945. "To be shot," says a
handwritten notation.
The fact that these executions occurred is not a revelation, but it is a
reminder that death sentences for offenses by military members are rare
today. Seven men are on the military's death row today, and military
judges have put no one to death since 1961.
Under the Uniform Code of Military Justice, 15 offenses are punishable by
death. Many of the 15, including desertion and disobeying a superior
officer's order, carry the death penalty only in time of war.
The ledger became known, purely by accident, as the Pentagon prepares to
hold military trials for some of the accused terrorists held at a
detention center in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. President Bush has designated
six prisoners who could be tried, and with one exception - Australian
David Hicks, accused of training with al-Qaida terrorists - each could get
the death penalty if convicted.
Irwin unearthed the execution list Thursday while clearing out a file
cabinet in the Pentagon's main public affairs office, which is moving to a
newly renovated section of the building. When she grabbed an armful of old
files to throw out, a document fell to the floor.
The neat, orderly list is partly handwritten, partly typed on seven sheets
of slightly yellowed paper. It does not indicate who compiled the list or
why, nor is it dated. It carries the handwritten title, "Executed Death
Cases before 1951," although some were later.
Most were from 1944-45. The earliest was in 1942.
The latest case was Pvt. John A. Bennett, hanged April 13, 1961, after he
was convicted of rape and attempted murder. He was the last member of the
U.S. military to be executed.
Of the nearly 200 listed, many were hanged. Some were shot. In some cases,
the means of execution is not mentioned.
Details of the crimes are not listed, although in one, "German rape case"
is noted after the May 30, 1944, execution date.
The list includes one case that was the subject of a television movie, the
desertion case of Pvt. Eddie Slovik. He is the only member of the American
military executed for desertion since the Civil War.
Slovik was 24 when he was shot by a firing squad Jan. 31, 1945, and buried
among the graves of other U.S. soldiers hanged for charges that included
rape and murder. His execution, approved by then-Gen. Dwight D.
Eisenhower, was kept secret by the Army until nine years later.
The Slovik entry on the execution list is case number 290498, and it says
simply that he was shot, listing the date of the execution and the date of
his trial (Nov. 11, 1944). In an apparent clerical error, he is listed as
having violated Article 58 of the Uniform Code of Military Justice. It
actually was Article 85, the provision that says it is unlawful to desert.
After the 1974 movie, called "The Execution of Private Slovik," starring
Martin Sheen, supporters of the Slovik family waged a campaign to clear
his name, asserting he had been denied a fair trial.
The Pentagon reviewed the case and ruled in 1977 that the execution had
been justified.
The State Department and Army approved the exhumation of his remains from
a cemetery in France after one of Slovik's sisters made a formal request.
He was reburied in Detroit in July 1987.
Other cases on the execution list are seven POWs - all Germans listed as
having been hanged July 28, 1945, after being convicted of disobeying an
order or regulation. No details are provided.
-----
Source : Associated Press