A U.S. soldier who pleaded responsible Wednesday to the murders of three Afghan civilians was sentence to 24 years in jail after saying "the plan was to kill people" in a scheme with four fellow soldiers.
Military moderator Lt. Col. Kwasi Hawks said he initially intended to verdict Spc. Jeremy Morlock to life in prison with option of parole but was jump by the plea deal.
Morlock, the first of five soldiers from the 5th Stryker Brigade to be court-martialed in the holder, will receive 352 days off of his decree for time served and could be qualified for parole in about seven years, said his lead lawyer, Frank Spinner. He will be ignobly discharged as part of his decree.
The 22-year-old Morlock is a key form in a war crimes probe that has raised some of the most serious unlawful claims to come from the war in Afghanistan. Army investigators accuse him of taking a lead role in the killings of three unarmed Afghan men in Kandahar prefecture in January, February and May 2010.
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