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 Editorials | Issues | March 2007 
Army Medic Gets 8 Months for Desertion
 George Frey - Associated Press
| | Agustin Aguayo, a mexican-born U.S. Army medic and self-described conscientious objector, attends a statement of his lawyer David Court at the Leighton Barracks in the southern German city of Wuerzburg March 6, 2007. A U.S. Army medic who refused to return to Iraq with his unit was sentenced on Tuesday to eight months in jail for desertion. A U.S. military court also ruled that Mexican-born combat medic Aguayo, who has already spent 161 days behind bars, should forfeit paid allowances and be given a bad conduct discharge. His rank would also be reduced to the lowest grade. (Reuters/Alex Grimm |
Wuerzburg, Germany – A U.S. Army medic who said he believes war is morally wrong and refused to return to Iraq was convicted of desertion Tuesday and sentenced to an eight-month prison term, far short of the maximum seven-year sentence.
Spc. Agustin Aguayo, 35, and his attorneys turned to each other and smiled after Judge Col. R. Peter Masterton read out the sentence.
Aguayo, a U.S. citizen born in Guadalajara, Mexico, had been jailed for 161 days awaiting trial, and his attorney, David Court, said he did not expect him to serve more than about six more weeks.
"We're grateful that the military judge gave a light sentence," Court said, adding that he thought Aguayo convinced the judge he was sincere.
Aguayo told the court during the one-day court-martial at the Army's Leighton Barracks near Wuerzburg, Germany, that his convictions led him to jump out a window and flee home to California rather than be forced to go back to Iraq.
"I respect everyone's views and your decision. I understand that people don't understand me," he testified. "I tried my best, but I couldn't bear weapons and I could never point weapons at someone."
Aguayo pleaded guilty to the lesser charges of being absent without leave and missing a troop movement, but was unsuccessful in contesting the more serious desertion charge.
The judge found him guilty of desertion after Capt. Derrick Grace, the lead prosecutor, told the court being absent without leave was by itself grounds for a desertion conviction. The judge also ordered that Aguayo be reduced in rank to private, forfeit his pay and receive a bad conduct discharge.
The trial was observed by representatives of Amnesty International and American Voices Abroad, an anti-war group that assisted Aguayo.
Aguayo has said he enlisted in 2002 to earn money for his education. Though military operations in Afghanistan were under way and discussions about Iraq were ongoing, he said he never considered that he would have to fight. |
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