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Seattle, Washington (AFP) Nov 20, 2010 One of five soldiers accused of killing Afghans for sport and taking grisly trophies from the victims has won a temporary reprieve from murder charge legal action, his lawyer said Saturday. Army prosecutors allege that Private Andrew Holmes participated in a plot to execute an Afghan man in January. The plan, supposedly concocted by ringleader Sergeant Calvin Gibbs and Corporal Jeremy Morlock, involved shooting a civilian and tossing a Russian-made grenade at the man to make it appear he was an enemy combatant. Holmes' attorney Dan Conway has slammed the probe into his client's role in the killing, claiming among other things that the army's refusal to release photos of the Afghan man's body impeded Holmes' right to a fair and open trial. According to various news reports, the photo show naked bodies of dead Afghans and, allegedly, soldiers posing with the bodies. The military worries that releasing the images could incite an anti-American backlash. Conway, who has seen the photos, said there are no bullet holes in the body consistent with the machine gun Holmes' was carrying that day. He wants the army to release the photos so he can have a forensic expert review them. On Friday, an army appeals court issued a stay of the proceedings against Holmes so his defense and army prosecutors can argue over the release of the photos. Conway says it is important that the images be made public for reasons beyond his assertion that Holmes did not, in fact, fire the shots that killed an Afghan civilian in January. Conway is also trying to prove that his client had no intention of killing anyone, as prosecutors allege. "If this was a conspiracy, if this was premeditated, then how do you explain how he (Holmes) missed from a distance of nine feet (three meters)?" Conway told AFP by telephone. Written and oral arguments over the photos could push out the process to decide if Holmes will face full court martial for his role in the alleged killings by more than a month, according to Conway. The military has already decided that Morlock will go to trial for his alleged role in the murders of Afghan civilians and is mulling over doing the same with Gibbs.
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