Fort Bragg Officer Sentenced 20 Years for Afghan Civilians' Deaths

UPDATE: 9:30p.m.

First Lt. Clint A. Lorance was found guilty of all charges except one at a General Court Martial earlier today. Lorance was sentenced to twenty years confinement, forfeiture of all pay and allowances and dismissal from the U.S. Army.

His three day trial was in connection with an incident that occurred during 4th Brigade Combat Team’s deployment to Afghanistan in support of Operation Enduring Freedom in July 2012.

The military judge for the Lorance court-martial was Col. Kirsten V.C. Brunson.  The prosecution team consisted of Cpt. Kirk Otto, Cpt. William Miller, Cpt. Ryan Little, and the defense team was civilian counsel Mr. Guy Womack, and government trial defense member Cpt. William Grady.

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FORT BRAGG, N.C.- First Lt. Clint A. Lorance was found guilty of all charges except one at a General Court Martial at 4 p.m. today . The Military Judge, Kirsten V.C. Brunson presided over the three-day trial in the new Fort Bragg Courthouse.

Lorance, a 28-year-old Oklahoma native, was found guilty of the following charges: one specification of Article 80, attempted murder of a male of apparent Afghan descent; two specifications of Article 118, murder of a male of apparent Afghan descent by means of shooting him with firearms; five specifications of Article 134, wrongfully communicated a threat, wrongfully and willfully discharged a firearm into a populated village, wrongfully solicited another service member to make a false official statement and wrongfully impeded the investigation into the Afghan deaths and wrongfully communicated a threat.

He was found not guilty of one specification of Article 107, false official statement.

Proceedings will now enter the sentencing phase of the trail. 

These charges were the result of an incident that occurred during 4th Brigade Combat Team’s deployment to Afghanistan in support of Operation Enduring Freedom in July 2012.