Attorneys Ask for Dismissal of Lesser Charges in Bragg Ambush Attack

Fort Bragg, N.C. — Attorneys for a soldier charged in a 1995 shooting rampage at Fort Bragg that killed an officer and injured 18 soldiers asked Monday that some charges against him be dropped.

Sgt. William Kreutzer is charged with one specification of premeditated murder, 18 specifications of attempted murder, one specification of violating a general order by transporting weapons on post and one specification of larceny of government property.

In a motions hearing Monday, defense attorneys asked that charges of aggravated assault and maiming be dropped, saying they are included in the murder and attempted murder charges. The military judge didn't rule on the request.

Members of the 2nd Brigade of the 82nd Airborne Division were on a morning run at Towle Stadium on Oct. 27, 1995, when someone opened fire on them from some nearby woods. Maj. Stephen Mark Badger died, and 18 others were wounded in the ambush attack.

Kreutzer was convicted in a 1996 trial and was sentenced to death. But the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Armed Forces threw out the conviction, citing the ineffectiveness of the defense counsel and an error by the military judge handling the trial in denying mitigating testimony.

A retrial has been scheduled for next April.

Kreutzer's current defense team has argued that the shooting wasn't premeditated murder. Lawyers said Kreutzer was depressed and tried to commit "suicide by cop" by provoking military police into shooting him.

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"Lawyers said Kreutzer was depressed and tried to commit "suicide by cop" by provoking military police into shooting him."

By God, grant him NOW what he wanted THEN. Put his cowardice "bu tt" in front of a Firing Squad & send him on his way! Sorry, folks, I'm "Old School". I dont buy into the Politically Correctness of today's society. Obviously somebody does, though. I got red-flagged because I put (b- ut- t) in my post: We're sorry for the inconvenience, but we've found a word or a combination of words that could potentially be considered inappropriate to some of our visitors.

In order to respect all members of our community we err on the side of caution. Please forgive us if we have flagged a word or combination of words that you feel is appropriate. All you have to do is change the highlighted words to post your comment.

Xscout577
October 31, 2007 12:15 a.m.

Our insane criminal justice system, or in this case, military system at work. I quess that's the reason I am not a lawyer- there is no way I could try to defend a person such as this, and go to sleep every night.

doubletrouble
October 29, 2007 4:27 p.m.

wow, im suprised he lived this long!

Jokers Wild II
October 29, 2007 1:53 p.m.

His excuse is he was wanting to be shot and killed by the military police... why then did he have to shoot anyone, couldn't he have shot close to them and still have gotten the same results but actually not killed anyone as he is claiming he was trying to do?

notaproblem
October 29, 2007 1:48 p.m.

Here's another one for WRAL to delete. Put him against a wall and execute him.