Iraq Roommates Murdered by Texas Soldier Neftaly Platero, Jury Finds
On Tuesday, Spc. Neftaly Platero was found guilty on two counts of premeditated murder and one count of attempted premeditated murder by a court-martial for the 2010 murders of 26-year-old Pfc. Grebrah Noonan and 20-year-old Spc. John Carrillo Jr., The Associated Press reported.
Prosecutors said that in 2010 Platero shot at this three roommates at a U.S. base camp in Fallujah, Iraq after getting into a verbal disagreement with them over their shared space getting too messy. A third roommate, Spc. Jeffery Shonk, was shot in the head and leg but managed to survive the attack.
Platero's defense attorney, Guy Womack, argued that his defendant was not behind the shootings, but by the time help arrived to the scene of the attack at the U.S. base in Fallujah both Carillo and Noonan were already dead.
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No one was witness to the attack and Womack pointed to the fact that forensic evidence failed to confirm that his client was behind the shootings. Shonk, the lone survivor of the shootings testified in court that he does not remember the shootings or who was behind the trigger. Platero did not testify in the case.
Following a week-long trial, the military jury deliberated for 90 minutes before reaching their Tuesday verdict.
"We're happy that he was found guilty," Desiree Carrillo, mother of Spc. John Carrillo Jr., told The Associated Press. "We'll never get our son back. It's some closure, but he's still gone."
Platero, who is from Kingwood, Texas, faces a life sentence with or without the possibility of parole.
