Attorneys Ask for Dismissal of Lesser Charges in Bragg Ambush Attack
Attorneys for a soldier charged in a 1995 shooting rampage at Fort Bragg that killed an officer and injured 18 soldiers asked Monday that some charges against him be dropped.
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Sgt. William Kreutzer is charged with one specification of premeditated murder, 18 specifications of attempted murder, one specification of violating a general order by transporting weapons on post and one specification of larceny of government property.
In a motions hearing Monday, defense attorneys asked that charges of aggravated assault and maiming be dropped, saying they are included in the murder and attempted murder charges. The military judge didn't rule on the request.
Members of the 2nd Brigade of the 82nd Airborne Division were on a morning run at Towle Stadium on Oct. 27, 1995, when someone opened fire on them from some nearby woods. Maj. Stephen Mark Badger died, and 18 others were wounded in the ambush attack.
Kreutzer was convicted in a 1996 trial and was sentenced to death. But the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Armed Forces threw out the conviction, citing the ineffectiveness of the defense counsel and an error by the military judge handling the trial in denying mitigating testimony.
A retrial has been scheduled for next April.
Kreutzer's current defense team has argued that the shooting wasn't premeditated murder. Lawyers said Kreutzer was depressed and tried to commit "suicide by cop" by provoking military police into shooting him.
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