President Trump granted a full pardon for former Army 1st Lt. Michael Behenna, who was convicted of murdering an Iraqi prisoner, the White House announced Monday.
Behenna, an Army Ranger who deployed to Iraq in 2007, was sentenced to 15 years in prison for the unpremeditated murder of Ali Mansur Mohamed in a combat zone by a military court in 2009.
Mansur, who was believed to have ties to al Qaeda, was interrogated but ultimately granted freedom after insufficient evidence was found to link him to an IED attack that killed two of Behanna’s comrades. Prosecutors said Behenna, who was ordered to bring Mansur back to his village, then took him out to the desert, stripped him naked and shot him dead during an unauthorized interrogation.
Behenna, now 35, claimed he was acting in self-defense, and was released on parole after serving less than five years in prison in 2014, but his efforts to overturn the conviction were in vain.
Oklahoma Attorney General Mike Hunter urged the Trump administration in February 2018 and again in April 2019 to pardon Behenna. He argued in a letter to Attorney General William Barr this year that “federal regulations unduly restrict your broad constitutional power to show mercy and issue pardons.”
The White House said in its statement Monday that Behenna’s “case has attracted broad support from the military, Oklahoma elected officials, and the public.”
“In light of these facts, Mr. Behenna is entirely deserving of this Grant of Executive Clemency,” the White House said.
