US officer charged with premeditated murder of wounded Iraqi News
US officer charged with premeditated murder of wounded Iraqi

[JURIST] Second Lt. Erick J. Anderson has been charged with premeditated murder and conspiracy to commit premeditated murder for the shooting of a wounded Iraqi man, the US military said Monday. The military has been investigating whether Anderson gave permission to two soldiers to shoot an injured Iraqi man, whom they thought would die anyway from his injuries. Staff Sgt. Cardenas Alban appeared for a pre-trial hearing before a military court last month and the second soldier involved in the incident, Staff Sgt. Johnny Horne, is scheduled to appear before a judge at a later date. Read the Central Command press release and more from AFP.

THIS DAY @ LAW

Guiteau tried for assassinating US President Garfield

On November 14, 1881, Charles Guiteau went on trial for the assassination of US President James A. Garfield. The trial of Guiteau pointed to problems with nineteenth-century law's treatment of insanity; Guiteau's trial is also problematic in retrospect as Garfield's death was immediately attributable not to Guiteau, but to Garfield's doctors who—before sterilization was well understood—repeated probed his wound with unwashed hands while searching for an embedded bullet.