Army sniper kills two Iraqis-gets a whopping 5 months in prison

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U.S. Army sniper sentenced in Iraq case

By KIM CURTIS
Associated Press Writer


BAGHDAD (AP) -- A military panel on Saturday sentenced an Army sniper to five months in prison, a reduction in rank and forfeiture of pay for planting evidence in connection with the deaths of two Iraqi civilians.

The country's sectarian violence, meanwhile, claimed 18 more lives on Saturday, including six people killed when a suicide truck bomber detonated his explosive payload near a Humvee filled with Iraqi soldiers, officials said. Two American soldiers also were killed - one hit by "enemy gunfire" in Diyala province and the other fatally shot during a firefight in Baghdad, the U.S. military said.

Spc. Jorge G. Sandoval, 22, was acquitted of murder charges in the April and May deaths of two unidentified men. The panel decided he was guilty of a lesser charges of placing detonation wire on one of the bodies to make it look as if the man was an insurgent.

"I feel fortunate that I have been served this sentence," Sandoval said. "I'm grateful that I'm able to continue to be in the Army."

The prosecution had argued Sandoval should be sentenced to five years in prison.

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