President Trump’s pardon of a former Army lieutenant convicted of murder could open the way for other cases to be reconsidered, according to a military advocate group.
David Gurfein of United American Patriots highlighted the case of former Army. Sgt. Derrick Miller, which has some similarities with that of Lt. Michael Behenna, who Trump pardoned last week after he served five years of a murder sentence for shooting an Iraqi roadside bomb suspect.
“We’re hoping that this is going to shed light on quite a few cases,” Gurfein, a veteran of the Marine Corps, told the Washington Examiner.
Miller, now 35, was convicted of premeditated murder in 2011 after killing an unarmed Afghan man identified as Atta Mohammad during a battlefield interrogation in 2010. He had pulled the man aside after he walked across a defense perimeter his unit had set up.
United American Patriots assisted in Miller’s defense, helping get his life sentence reduced to 20 years, thus making him eligible for parole. He will be paroled this year on May 20.
Gurfein said the prosecutors mischaracterized the situation. He said Mohammad, in fact, was identified as a Taliban scout prior to the encounter. When questioned by Miller, Mohammad initially said he was a plumber. Miller asked where his tools were, leading Mohammad to say he was actually an electrician. Upon recognizing his story was falling apart, it was then that Mohammad went for Miller’s weapon.
The idea that Miller — who was on his third combat tour at the time — simply executed the man on the spot doesn’t make sense, according to Gurfein. “Anyone who’s been in combat knows the worst way to get information from someone in a battlefield interrogation is to kill them.”
Shortly after the encounter, Miller’s unit was attacked by Taliban militants, but suffered no deaths. Miller’s supporters said this is clear evidence that Mohammad was observing their position on the Taliban’s behalf. Gurfein credited Miller’s actions with keeping the unit alive that day.
Pardons for military personnel are rarely given to personnel convicted of violent crimes. Trump pardoned former U.S. Navy sailor Kristian Saucier in March 2018 after Saucier was convicted of taking pictures of sensitive areas within a nuclear submarine. President Barack Obama pardoned retired Marine Corps Gen. James Cartwright in 2017 after Cartwright plead guilty to making false statements regarding his leaking of classified information to a journalist.
A Change.org petition requesting a pardon for Miller has reached more than 10,000 signatures, and Gurfein said he feels confident the Behenna case could lead to more White House interest in similar cases.
