Military court to hear appeal in fragging attack
LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP) – A former U.S. soldier sentenced to death for killing two fellow soldiers and injuring 14 others in an attack in Kuwait is pinning his hopes of staying alive on an argument that his defense attorneys were deficient.
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Armed Forces in Washington heard the case of 43-year-old Hasan Akbar on Tuesday. Akbar was a sergeant with the 326th Engineer Battalion of the 101st Airborne Division based at Fort Campbell, Kentucky, when he was sentenced to death in 2005 for killing Army Capt. Christopher S. Seifert and Air Force Maj. Gregory L. Stone in Kuwait two years earlier.
Army Lt. Col. John Potter told the judges the defense failed to prepare witnesses and errantly let jurors see Akbar’s diary, which contained multiple anti-American passages.
