Soldier gets 35 years for Iraqi murders

A SECOND US soldier was convicted yesterday of murder in the execution-style slayings of four bound and blindfolded Iraqi detainees in 2007 and sentenced to 35 years in prison after he pleaded guilty at his court-martial.

Wearing his dress uniform, Sergeant First Class Joseph Mayo of Fort Bragg, North Carolina, pleaded guilty to charges of premeditated murder and conspiracy to commit premeditated murder at the proceeding at the US Army’s Rose Barracks in southern Germany.

He pleaded not guilty to a charge of obstruction of justice in the incident, which occurred while he was deployed to Iraq.