SEATTLE (AP) — An Army investigator has recommended dropping murder and conspiracy charges against one of five Washington-based soldiers charged with killing civilians in Afghanistan for kicks.
Defense attorney Colby Vokey released the investigator’s report to The Associated Press on Thursday. It says there’s no evidence to sustain charges that his client, Spc. Michael Wagnon of Las Vegas, deliberately killed any civilian, conspired to kill civilians, possessed a human skull fragment or tried to impede an investigation.
However, the officer did recommend that Wagnon face a court-martial on a charge of conspiracy to commit aggravated assault because he was present when others in his unit allegedly fired toward unarmed farmers in a field.
Wagnon and four others have been charged in the deaths of three Afghan civilians during patrols in Kandahar Province this year.
