Clint Lamebear's graduation photo from Gallup High School, N.M. ()
This week, two 1st Armored Division soldiers accused in the November slaying of Pfc. Clint Lamebear will face a V Corps court-martial, now that the division has deployed to Iraq.
Brig. Gen. Donald L. Jacka Jr., V Corps’ rear commander, has referred charges against Pfc. Jonathan Schroeder and Pfc. Andrew Humiston to a general court-martial.
The soldiers, both mortarmen assigned to the 1st Battalion, 36th Infantry Regiment at Ray Barracks in Friedberg, Germany, will be arraigned Thursday at Taylor Barracks in Mannheim, V Corps officials said. The accused soldiers face felony murder charges.
Lambear was found dead Nov. 16, 2002, in an alley in Sachsenhausen, a pub district in Frankfurt, Germany. The 18-year-old Navajo from New Mexico arrived in Germany just four days earlier. He had reportedly spent the previous night drinking with fellow troops, his first night on the town.
Lamebear was an infantryman assigned to the same unit as Schroeder and Humiston. Lamebear suffered massive head injuries, which German police said were caused by blows from a piece of lumber.
The suspects, who also spent that Friday night drinking in Sachsenhausen, also face charges of robbery, conspiracy to commit robbery and obstruction of justice. On March 17, the Army charged Schroeder with premeditated murder.
The case was referred as non-capital, V Corps officials said, which implies that Army prosecutors will not seek the death penalty for Schroeder’s additional charge.
Schroeder, 22, is from Pontotoc, Miss., while Humiston, 23, is from Champlin, Minnesota. The Army withheld the suspects’ hometowns for the past six months.
During Article 32 hearings, the equivalent of a civilian grand jury, the press was barred from hearing testimony. The four-day hearing ended Jan. 28.
When 1st Armored Divison headquarters recently moved to Camp Pennsylvania, about 30 miles north of Kuwait City, the legal responsibilities for Schroeder and Humiston’s case passed to V Corps in Heidelberg, said Capt. Dave Gercken, a division spokesman.
“It’s normal procedure because we’ve deployed,” Gercken said. “That’s so that military law flows the way it normally should and so the rights of everyone involved are protected.”
The referral of charges and specifications to court-martial is merely an accusation against the accused soldiers, who are presumed innocent, V Corps officials said.
