# The horrific actions of Pte. Federico Daniel Merida



## Jarnhamar (19 Dec 2004)

U.S. soldier sentenced to 25 years for killing Iraqi teen after gay sex 

RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) - A U.S. National Guardsman who pleaded guilty to killing a 17-year-old Iraqi said he shot the young man 11 times after they had sex in a guard tower, a North Carolina newspaper reported Saturday, citing court-martial records. 

Pte. Federico Daniel Merida, 21, pleaded guilty to murder without premeditation and other charges during a court martial in Iraq in September. 

Merida was sentenced Sept. 25 to 25 years in prison and reduced in rank and will be dishonourably discharged. He is being held at Fort Leavenworth, Kan., a Leavenworth spokeswoman said. 

U.S. army officials at Forward Operating Base Danger, where the court martial was held in Iraq, had withheld details of the case. 

However, the News & Observer newspaper of Raleigh reported Saturday that records said Merida and the Iraqi were on guard duty May 11 in a tower on the perimeter of an army camp near Tikrit in northern Iraq. At about 10:30 p.m. local time, Merida shot the teen 11 times with his carbine. 

Merida first told investigators the teen demanded money at gunpoint. Later, he said he killed the boy because he forced him to have sex. In a third interview, Merida said he was angry after the two had consensual sex. 

Merida also pleaded guilty to two counts of giving false statements. 

Merida apologized to the victim's family during the court martial, records said. 

"He was a son, a brother, someone very important to them," Merida said. 

"I took someone they loved and cared for." 

Merida, who was born in Veracruz, Mexico, has a wife and son. 

He was a member of the 113th Field Artillery Battalion's Battery B, based in Monroe, N.C. 

http://cnews.canoe.ca/CNEWS/World/Iraq/2004/12/18/789001-ap.html




***

In Canada we can only send soldiers to military prison for 2 years less a day correct?  Were someone here to be sentenced to 25 years would they do 2 years at club ed then 23 at a some federal prison?


----------



## The_Falcon (19 Dec 2004)

correct


----------



## Infanteer (19 Dec 2004)

With the hundreds of thousands of soldiers who have served in Iraq, a few bad apples are bound to slip through the cracks.  It's too bad that this story will be used by some to represent the norms for US behaviour in Iraq - just as some have portrayed the Canadian Forces as an entire population of Clayton Matchee's....


----------



## Jarnhamar (19 Dec 2004)

For sure.  As dumb as it sounds I blame reality TV in many ways.  People want to see shows like survivor where they are stabbing each other in the back or a show where people get fired. People love to watch others get humiluated and hurt. 

I'm not sure why so many people get off on the misfortuines of others.  If something dumb like this happens don't sweep it under the rug. Report it, see that the guilty get punished and move on. No requirement for a national scandle because of one dummy.


----------



## Slim (19 Dec 2004)

> I'm not sure why so many people get off on the misfortuines of others.  If something dumb like this happens don't sweep it under the rug. Report it, see that the guilty get punished and move on. No requirement for a national scandle because of one dummy.



You aught to send that statement along to the media. It would do them (and us) a world of good to adhere to!

Slim


----------



## Infanteer (19 Dec 2004)

Ghost778 said:
			
		

> For sure.   As dumb as it sounds I blame reality TV in many ways.   People want to see shows like survivor where they are stabbing each other in the back or a show where people get fired. People love to watch others get humiluated and hurt.



I think you're right on that point.  It always seems that Reality shows pick the biggest dysfunctional idiots for their contestants.  Do you see the types of personalites that would be the most competitive and successful for the challenge?  No.  You see the people who are guaranteed to cash in their dignity for a few bucks.

I've watched Amazing Race once (when I bothered to turn on the TV), and the show seems to be formed of two categories of contestants; gong-shows (like the winning team with a guy who physically and mentally abuses his girlfriend each episode), and nice folks who will fail miserably (married seniors).  I wonder how two NCO's from the Army would do on that show.


----------

