Posted on: Tuesday, August 3, 2004
Father travels to Iraq for son's court-martial
By Peter Boylan
Advertiser Staff Writer
These days, Darce Richmond is always near tears, anxiously wondering what will happen next.
A court-martial gets under way today for her son, a U.S. soldier accused of murder in Iraq, and her husband paid his own way there to be at their son's side at the Army's 1st Infantry Division headquarters in Tikrit.
Pfc. Edward L. Richmond Jr., 20, is charged with fatally shooting a handcuffed, unarmed Iraqi civilian Feb. 28 while on patrol about 40 miles southwest of Kirkuk. He's charged with unpremeditated murder, and a conviction would net a mandatory term of life in prison with the possibility of parole.
"I'm worried about my husband (Edward Sr., who traveled with the Army from Kuwait to Tikrit)," said Darce Richmond, from the family's home in Louisiana, where she keeps watch over their 11-year-old daughter, Jordyn. "I'm worried about everyone in my family now, not just my son. I wanted to go, too, but I didn't want to have both my daughter's parents in a war zone."
Pfc. Richmond is assigned to Headquarters Company, 1st Battalion, 27th Infantry Regiment, at Schofield Barracks.
His father boarded a flight for Kuwait on July 27, charging his airfare to family credit cards.
At first, the Army did not want to allow the elder Richmond into Iraq for the court-martial because his safety could not be guaranteed, his wife said. Her son's attorney filed a motion with the trial judge, who issued a travel permit to the elder Richmond.
Darce Richmond said the Army picked up her husband in Kuwait and took him by convoy to Tikrit Air Base, in Iraq, a journey that took a few days.
The Army "was extremely helpful. There was someone in Kuwait with a sign waiting for my husband," she said. "They (father and son) are thrilled to be together, you can hear it in their voices."
She said her husband told her that he signed a waiver relieving the United States of responsibility if something happens to him. She said that if her son is convicted, her husband will testify as a character witness.
She said that when her son joined the Army, he followed in the military tradition of his father, an Air Force veteran, and both grandfathers, one a Navy man, the other a Marine who was wounded in the Korean War.
"I remember Ed Jr. crying during 9/11, after everything happened. He ... (dropped out of Louisiana State University) and joined the Army soon after. I was upset that he was there but I'm proud of my children," she said. "Why would they take our children, train them, teach them to follow orders; then they follow them, and they turn around and court-martial him? I don't know what to think anymore."
Lt. Colonel Robin Hall will preside at a motions hearing and arraignment today, Army officials said. A court-martial is a military criminal trial court. The merits of the case will be debated openly, and a court-martial panel, the military equivalent of a jury, will decide Richmond's fate.
The soldier chooses whether he wants to be tried before a judge or jury and then enters a plea, said Maj. Neal O'Brien, an Army spokesman.
Richmond's attorney, Capt. Jennifer Crawford, will speak for him and state any motions. The judge will then hear testimony on motions and arguments from Crawford and prosecutor Maj. Samuel Schubert, O'Brien said.
Richmond's case, like all others involving U.S. soldiers in the current Iraq war, is being handled by the military, although the shooting involved an Iraqi civilian.
The transfer of sovereignty to the interim Iraqi government in June created confusion about legal authority over U.S. and coalition soldiers accused of crimes in Iraq, especially those against civilians. The United States and the interim Iraqi government have an agreement to discuss all issues pertaining to military action, but there is no agreement on how foreign troops will be governed and what laws they will adhere to while stationed in Iraq.
The interim Iraqi government has indicated no desire to hold coalition forces accountable under Iraqi law.
Richmond is the third U.S. soldier to face a court-martial on a murder charge in this war.
In a June telephone interview with The Advertiser from Kirkuk Air Base, Richmond said that he shot Muhamad Husain Kadir, an Iraqi cowherd, in defense of another soldier. He said that before his unit went out on patrol, commanding officers ordered soldiers to shoot detainees if they tried to escape.
Richmond said he and his partner were about 100 yards away from their convoy on Feb. 28, searching for terrorist suspects in Taal Al Jal, near Al Huwijah — a city of more than 85,000 people, mostly Sunni Muslims — about 40 miles southwest of Kirkuk.
When they approached Kadir, his partner tried to detain the man, who violently resisted, Richmond said. Kadir had not been searched and Richmond said he could not see during the struggle if his partner had cuffed Kadir. He said he shot Kadir in the head when the man lunged at his partner.
The Army alleges the middle-aged Iraqi man was running and "resisting apprehension." The military's case against Richmond is based largely on the contention that Kadir was flex-cuffed at the time he was killed.
Reach Peter Boylan at 535-8110 or pboylan@honoluluadvertiser.com.
