Thomas Jasper - All Charges Are Dropped in Case of Friendly Fire

http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB10001424052970204062704577221463254929598

By MICHAEL M. PHILLIPS
February 14, 2012

The military has dropped criminal charges against a U.S. tank commander whose crew mistakenly shot and killed a fellow Marine during a firefight in Afghanistan last year.

Maj. Gen. John Toolan, the senior U.S. commander in southwestern Afghanistan, decided not to proceed with a court martial for Sgt. Jason R. Byrd, who had been charged with negligent homicide and other offenses stemming from the friendly-fire death of Lance Cpl. Benjamin Schmidt on Oct. 6.

The Marines dismissed the charges against Sgt. Byrd "without prejudice," meaning they could be reinstated if new evidence surfaces. The notification letter, received Saturday by the defense team, didn't give a reason for dropping the criminal charges, which are very unusual in friendly fire cases. It's unlikely the case would be resurrected.

During an operation aimed at clearing Taliban fighters from a series of villages in Musa Qala District, Sgt. Byrd's tank and Lance Cpl. Schmidt's sniper team were positioned along a ridge to provide covering fire for the infantrymen below. The snipers had been taking sporadic shots at insurgents when Sgt. Byrd's tank, positioned about 700 yards to the north, sprayed the team with machine-gun fire.

Lance Cpl. Schmidt, a 24-year-old from San Antonio, died instantly from a shot to the head.

"My tank's mission on the battlefield was to protect fellow Marines, and that's exactly what I thought I was doing," Sgt. Byrd wrote Monday in a statement provided through his attorney. "I am going to live with this tragedy for the rest of my life."

Sgt. Byrd's attorney, Lt. Col. Tom Jasper, said the sergeant thought he and his three crewmen were the southernmost U.S. force on the ridge. Sgt. Byrd's men mistook the snipers for enemy fighters. Although he didn't verify the validity of the target himself, the sergeant authorized his men to fire, his lawyer said.

"You've got to trust your crew, and seconds matter," Lt. Col. Jasper said. "It was truly a fog-of-war situation that day."

A Marine investigation conducted late last year criticized the crew's lack of "situational awareness" and "faulty" procedures.

The fallout from Lance Cpl. Schmidt's death, including the effort to reconcile tankers and snipers at the small outpost they shared, was the subject of a front-page article in The Wall Street Journal published on Nov. 19-20.

The military held an investigative hearing in Afghanistan and last month charged Sgt. Byrd, 25, from Burnsville, N.C., with involuntary manslaughter and dereliction of duty, as well as negligent homicide. Under military procedures, it was then up to Gen. Toolan to decide whether to pursue a criminal trial.

"I would like to express how horribly bad I feel about this tragedy happening," Sgt. Byrd said. "My thoughts will always be with Lance Cpl. Benjamin Schmidt's family, friends, and the fellow Marines that served with and loved" him.

Lance Cpl. Schmidt's father, Dr. David Schmidt, the team doctor for the San Antonio Spurs professional basketball team, said he considered his son's death an accident of war and expressed relief that Sgt. Byrd would not face trial. "Our feeling is he has his own prison to live in," Dr. Schmidt said.