Soldier Acquitted in Fragging Case

A military jury at Fort Bragg, N.C., acquitted Staff Sgt. Alberto Martinez of murder charges. Martinez, of the 42nd Infantry Division, New York Army National Guard, had been accused of murdering Capt. Phillip T. Esposito and Lt. Louis E. Allen during a claymore mine and grenade attack at Forward Operating Base Danger, Iraq, in June 2005. Questions of Martinez’s guilt arose when his defense attorneys revealed that the Army Criminal Investigative Division did not adequately examine a crime scene that had been compromised, had filed the charges with a preconception of his guilt, and no concrete evidence that he was behind the fatal attack on the two officers.