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Article 32 hearing for soldier accused of killing comrades
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Spc. William Youngblood stands outside the courthouse at Fort Stewart Wednesday morning after giving his account of the events that took place in the early morning hours of Sept. 14, 2008. He and several other witnesses were called back to court to testify again.
The fact-finding hearing, which could determine whether Sgt. Joseph C. Bozicevich, 39, faces a court martial, continued Wednesday morning with the investigating officer, military judge Col. Michael Hargis, re-calling several key witnesses.
Bozicevich has been charged with two counts of premeditated murder for the shooting deaths of Staff Sgt. Darris J. Dawson, 24, and Sgt. Wesley R. Durbin, 26.
The incident occurred Sept. 14, 2008, while they were deployed to Patrol Base Jurf as Sahkr, Iraq.
All three men were members of Alpha Co., 3rd Battalion, 7th Infantry Regiment, 4th Brigade Combat Team and 3rd Infantry Division.
Early Wednesday, Hargis called back to the stand Staff Sgt. Jesse Everson, Staff Sgt. Anthony Matekovic, Sgt. Edward Hart, Spc. William Youngblood, Sgt. Darren Brown and First Sgt. Xavier Perdue. When the men took the witness stand, Hargis asked them if they had heard Sgt. Bozicevich say anything the morning that Durbin and Dawson were shot and killed.
"When you arrived, did you ever hear the accused say, ‘I'm glad I killed you,' or words to that effect?" the judge asked Matekovic.
"No, sir, I did not," the sergeant replied.
"If you had heard that, would you have remembered it?" Hargis continued.
"Yes, sir," Matekovic said.
Similar exchanges took place with nearly all of the recalled witnesses.
On Tuesday, the judge heard witness accounts from Staff Sgt. John Dresel. Dresel described how he heard and saw Bozicevich while he was allegedly shooting at Dawson.
"Mother [expletive], I am going to kill you," Dresel said he heard Bozicevich yell as Dawson cried in pain, "Why? Stop. Please don't shoot."
Wednesday, the judge and Bozicevich's defense team focused on Dresel's description of the events.
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