Courtesy of KWTX.com
The Central Texas soldier who has spent the past 11 years in at a prison in Leavenworth for war crimes he insists he did not commit is anxiously awaiting a decision from the Army's Clemency and Parole board after a hearing Thursday.
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First Sgt. John Hatley, a highly-decorated soldier who served 20 years in the military, is being held in the military prison at Fort Leavenworth, Kan. (Courtesy photo)
This is the fourth time 1SG John Hatley's case has come up for review and there is a growing number of people who are hoping the fourth time will be the charm and Hatley will be able to go back home to Groesbeck, Texas. Including U-S Congressman from east Texas Louie Gohmert.
"This is a guy who has no business being in prison at Leavenworth or anywhere," said Gohmert.
Behind glass doors at a building in Arlington, Virginia, the Army's Clemency and Parole Board got an earful from Hatley's supporters.
The sergeant has serving hard time in Leavenworth for the murder of four Iraqi detainees after a mission in Iraq, a conviction based not on evidence, but the questionable testimony of two soldiers already facing disciplinary action for other crimes.
Hatley's supporters claim the soldiers were eager to make a deal with prosecutors. One thing that has kept Hatley behind bars for eleven years is his refusal to admit to the crime.