Second soldier acquitted in Afghan detainee death News
Second soldier acquitted in Afghan detainee death

[JURIST] A military jury acquitted US Army Sgt. Darin Broady Thursday of charges of alleged abuse, making Broady the second reservist cleared [JURIST report] in the death of an Afghan detainee [Wikipedia backgrounder] in 2002 at Bagram Air Base. Broady faced charges of aggravated assault, maltreatment and making false statements. Sgt. Keri Patterson, who witnessed the alleged events and testified in the earlier trial of Sgt. Christopher Greatorex, offered testimony again in Broady's trial. Patterson said she remembered Broady kicking a detainee known as Habibullah while he was chained, but Greatorex testified that Broady never struck the detainee. Habibullah died several days after being detained, with medical examiners declaring the death due to blood clots in his legs caused by abuse. No one has been convicted of charges stemming from the death, although nine were charged and several pleaded guilty [JURIST report]. AP has more.

THIS DAY @ LAW

Ku Klux Klan founded

The US hate group known as the Ku Klux Klan was founded on December 24, 1865 in Pulaski, Tennessee as a reaction to reconstruction efforts following the Union victory in the American Civil War. The group would later become notorious for its attacks on Black Americans, being targeted by the Enforcement Act of 1871, which imposed civil and criminal liability for deprivation of constitutional rights. Read the Enforcement Act of 1871.  

Hamid Karzai born

On December 24, 1957, Hamid Karzai was born in Karz, Afghanistan. He would go on to become in 2004 his country's first elected president after the end of Taliban rule in 2001.