A soldier who testified against Clint Lorance still believes the former first lieutenant is guilty of murder despite being pardoned by President Trump.
While on deployment to Afghanistan in 2012, Todd Fitzgerald witnessed Lorance order his platoon to fire at three unarmed men on a motorcycle, killing two. Fitzgerald testified against Lorance in a 2013 trial. Lorance was convicted and spent six years in prison until Trump pardoned him on Nov. 15.
Fitzgerald remains convinced that Lorance is guilty, the former Army specialist told the Washington Examiner. “Yeah, without a doubt in my mind,” Fitzgerald said, noting that he believes his former comrades are all “pretty much on the same page.”
In addition to Fitzgerald, other men from 4th Squadron, 73rd Cavalry Regiment testified against Lorance at his trial. Some of Lorance’s supporters have suggested that soldiers were pressured to speak against him, but Fitzgerald said they did it on their own. “I mean, we turned him in — make no mistake about that,” he said.
Lorance, 34, has maintained that he acted to protect his men. Before his arrival, the unit had suffered several casualties, including Lorance’s predecessor, 1st Lt. Dominic Latino, who was wounded by shrapnel from an improvised explosive device that hit him in the legs.
Being named to replace Latino came as a surprise to Lorance, who had been working as a liaison in the unit’s operations center, a job that he said often required him to put in 20-hour workdays.
“That’s the first thing going through my head is like, you know, why am I the guy who got selected for this?” Lorance told the Washington Examiner. “Because there was several lieutenants that were more qualified than me to do it … and I was working by myself in a position that’s extremely important.”
Latino was a soft-spoken but confident leader who did things by the book and never gave the troops any indication that he didn’t know what he was doing, Fitzgerald said. He was “instrumental” in building a relationship with locals, who had given the unit good intelligence, the former specialist said.
Lorance, however, was more aggressive, and used terms such as “shock and awe” with the troops. “I don’t know if I can describe in words just how stark that contrast was,” Fitzgerald said.
But the job in the ops center had given him a broad view of the dangers of the battlefield, Lorance said, and he was determined his men weren’t going to die.
“And I’m thinking of all the intelligence reports that I’m reading about motorcycles that are packed with explosives under the seats,” Lorance said. “And you may not see an AK-47 or a grenade or whatever, but we continue to find them still today.”
When one of his soldiers spotted the three men on the motorcycle while on patrol on July 2, 2012, Lorance said, he was determined to keep the platoon safe.
“He says something to the effect of, ‘They’re coming and they’re not stopping,’ and so I’m thinking, ‘F— ‘em,’” he said. “They’re not stupid. There’s Afghan Army up there telling them in their language to stop, right? And they’re not stopping, so f— ‘em. And they’re not going to get to my men. They may get to a couple of those Afghans, but they’re not going to get to my men. So, take them out.”
The soldiers who testified against Lorance claimed the motorcycle did not pose a threat to the platoon, but Lorance and his supporters dispute that. Forensic evidence later linked the three men on the motorcycle to bombmaking.
Despite spending six years behind bars, Lorance told the Washington Examiner he doesn’t have any ill will toward his former soldiers. “As a leader, I’m not going to disparage those guys, because as a leader, you have to protect your subordinates, even if they hate you,” he said.
