John Hatley

Military courts are different; soldiers aren’t afforded the same constitutional protections as civilians. The soldier was on his way home from his last battle and looking forward to retirement, when he was arrested and charged in connection with the killings. Prosecutors said the detainees were bound and gagged before they were shot and killed by Hatley. The staff sergeant was the first to report the killings, a year after the incident and after Alpha Company had left Iraq. In interviews with authorities and the media, he said he feared for his safety if he reported them during the deployment.

John Hatley Awaits Clemency Decision

This latter award is noteworthy because the Audie Murphy Club is an exclusive honor reserved for men who demonstrate a myriad of leadership and character traits. As evidenced in his parole packet, he has not only maintained his high standards of conduct and leadership, he has positively influenced the behavior of others within his pod and has been instrumental in changing the culture of it so that very few problems occur. Further, testimony was accepted by one man who was known to have previously given a false statement to the CID, and some of the testimony contradicted the laws of physics. This is important because Hatley was convicted solely on testimony, and that testimony was contradictory and inconsistent. Eventually, all of the men except Hatley made pretrial agreements to plead guilty.

• On his fourth time before the board in October, Groesbeck native 1st Sgt. John E. Hatley was granted parole.
• One witness said when he shot a man in the back of the head, he fell back against his leg.
• Both Mayo and Leahy were handed lengthy sentences as well, and both became parole eligible in 2015.
• Hatley pleaded not guilty to the crimes at his 2009 trial and continues to deny that the killings took place at all.
• Hatley’s supporters claim the soldiers were eager to make a deal with prosecutors.
• In 2018, the same board that granted Hatley parole the first time denied it on the basis that he is not taking responsibility for his actions.

U.S. Army soldier sentenced to life in prison

In 1999 Hatley deployed with the 5th Cavalry Regiment to Operation Joint Forge in Bosnia and Herzegovina. In 2001 Hatley again deployed to the Balkans this time as part of Operation Joint Guardian II in Kosovo. The first of Hatley’s two deployments to Iraq came in 2004 where he worked in the 1st Infantry Division’s Operations section. His second deployment was as the First Sergeant of Alpha Company of the 1st Battalion of the 18th Infantry Regiment. The pardons were opposed by military leaders including Defense Secretary Mark Esper who felt the move undermined their authority and threatened the “good order and discipline” in the military. Military investigators did not produce any physical evidence, no bodies were found and no one was reported missing.

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Normally, the object struck by a bullet moves in the direction of the bullet. Flores said he is working with his colleagues to ensure soldiers can get the same constitutional protections as civilians. “When you look at the witnesses who testified against him, they each had issues in their military history that caused them to agree to plea deals to testify against Sgt. Hatley,” said Flores. “His soldiers would have followed him into hell with a water pistol.” But after finishing the patrol, Cunningham said, Hatley took a smaller detachment of about two squads from Alpha Company, along with the detainees, back out of the forward operating base.

U.S. Army soldier sentenced to life in prison

This is the fourth time 1SG John Hatley’s case has come up for review and there is a growing number of people who are hoping the fourth time will be the charm and Hatley will be able to go back home to Groesbeck, Texas. Even though John Hatley’s life sentence has been reduced to 25 years, his father remains unsatisfied. Flores told KWTX he learned two soldiers who testified against John Hatley may have had an axe to grind and faced discipline for other issues.

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• In the wake of the backlash, the Army upper echelon engaged in an effort to “prove” that they held US soldiers to high standards of engagement and accountability for their actions.
• Former 1st Sgt. John Hatley was originally sentenced to life in prison, which was later reduced, and he was granted parole when he became eligible last year.
• The family of a soldier from Central Texas who has spent the past 11 years of his life behind bars for a horrendous crime is on a mission for justice, arguing there are serious questions about the soldier’s conviction.
• Hatley was offered the same deal if he would roll over on his superior, but Hatley would neither plead guilty to something he didn’t do or falsely implicate someone else.
• Again, there were no bodies, no names, no physical or forensic evidence—only the testimony of men with something to gain.
• After basic training Hatley was assigned to the Army’s 101st Airborne Division and deployed to Operations Desert Shield and Desert Storm.
• First Sgt. John Hatley, a highly-decorated soldier who served 20 years in the military, is being held in the military prison at Fort Leavenworth, Kan., which is home to some of the “worst of the worst” offenders in the military.
• When you decide to serve your country in the military, the danger is not from a foreign adversary, but rather unethical admirals and generals who crave having another star on their collar.
• Leavenworth for the premeditated murder of four men of Middle Eastern descent.

Cunningham asked his attorney to take an offer of a deal to the Criminal Investigation Division (CID) of the Army offering information on a homicide in exchange for immunity. Immunity was denied, but the attorney had already given CID Cunningham’s statement. In April 2009, Hatley was sentenced to life, with the possibility of parole. Some of our readers probably remember the alleged “canal killings” in 2009.

First Sergeant John Hatley’s Release Celebrated

Also, CID interviewed the farmer on whose land the canal is located where the alleged bodies were dumped. The farmer said he had zero knowledge of any bodies being dumped or anyone being murdered in that area. None of this was disputed, and, remarkably, the case went to trial with no victims being identified. There was not a single shred of physical or forensic evidence against Hatley or his co-accused, Sergeant First freejohnhatley.com Class Joseph P. Mayo and Sergeant Michael Leahy. A seven-man Army diving team searched the canal where Cunningham said four men were executed and the bodies were supposedly dumped. Ten months after this event, Cunningham was facing two charges of striking a fellow NCO and one charge of threatening an officer with great bodily harm.

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Army court in Vilseck, Germany found Hatley guilty of premeditated murder and conspiracy to commit premeditated murder over the killings at the canal in Baghdad. At the time of the murders the three American soldiers were assigned to Company A, 1st Battalion of the 18th Infantry Regiment. Hatley was sentenced to life in prison but will be eligible for parole after 20 years. He was reduced in rank to private, dishonorably discharged and forfeited all pay and allowances. John Maher is joined by attorney Colby Vokey, Congressman Bill Flores, the newly-freed John Hatley, and Congressman Louie Gohmert near Fort Leavenworth, Kansas the day of Hatley’s October 2020 release. Hatley, a decorated noncommissioned officer with multiple combat tours, had been sentenced to life in prison with the possibility of parole after being convicted of premeditated murder of four Iraqi detainees in 2009.

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• Hatley was not only severely defamed by the media in general, but a well-known magazine featured an article about his case that fed the American public outright lies.
• According to CID, no bodies, no items of clothing, no personal belongings, no bone fragments, no bullets, or no casings were found.
• Unfortunately, this effort culminated in a witch-hunt like frenzy that ultimately led to a myriad of questionable court-martials of soldiers who were simply carrying out their duties in combat situations and were not guilty of any wrongdoing.
• His second deployment was as the First Sergeant of Alpha Company of the 1st Battalion of the 18th Infantry Regiment.
• Following the retirement playbook, she denied knowing anything about any torture or prisoner degradation.
• Believe it or not, as an active duty member of the United States military, you could be imprisoned for the rest of your life because military leaders are attempting to ingratiate themselves with Congress by being as politically correct as possible.
• Hatley was also involved in the Army’s official criminal investigation into the article in The New Republic as necessitated by his position as the senior non-commissioned officer in Beauchamp’s company.

The unit picked up the men, Cunningham said, and Hatley and Mayo suggested killing them to prevent the suspected insurgents from being released and posing a future threat. Cunningham said he wouldn’t do that and, he said, Hatley, Mayo and Leahy initially seemed to relent. Both Mayo and Leahy were handed lengthy sentences as well, and both became parole eligible in 2015. Information on their current status was not immediately available, however. “Any times allegations were brought up of civilians being killed, all of the sudden there was a rush to judgement,” Gurfein said.

• Janis “I know nothing” Karpinski was ultimately allowed to quietly retire to avoid any accountability.
• Some soldiers said there were four prisoners; some said there were five.
• However, as per the stringent policies pertaining to detaining enemy combatants, there was not enough evidence to detain the insurgents.
• Sometime during March or April of 2007, a firefight occurred between First Sergeant Hatley’s unit and a group of Iraqi fighters.
• In April 2009, Hatley was sentenced to life, with the possibility of parole.
• In 2017, the Parole Board after thoroughly reviewing his packet and listening to the testimony of those who spoke on his behalf, including United States Congressman Bill Flores, agreed and voted to grant him parole.
• We’ve gathered a variety of important documents that recorded important life events.

U.S. Army soldier sentenced to life in prison

The United States Army effectively created a depiction of First Sergeant (1SG) John E. Hatley as a cold-blooded killer who executed four Iraqis. The Army told Hatley he could probably receive parole if he would only admit guilt and express remorse. The family of a soldier from Central Texas who has spent the past 11 years of his life behind bars for a horrendous crime is on a mission for justice, arguing there are serious questions about the soldier’s conviction. Maher, Hatley’s attorney, noted that at his client’s clemency and parole board hearing last year, six congressional representatives arrived to show their support for his parole. On his fourth time before the board in October, Groesbeck native 1st Sgt. John E. Hatley was granted parole. The key evidence was testimony from other soldiers who themselves were facing discipline for other reasons and could have been anxious to cut a deal.

Hatley was serving as Beauchamp’s Company First Sergeant in Iraq at the time that Beauchamp authored a diary published as an article in The New Republic, an American Leftist political magazine. Subsequently a conservative blogger, looking for information on Beauchamp’s claims, initiated an email exchange with Hatley. Hatley was also involved in the Army’s official criminal investigation into the article in The New Republic as necessitated by his position as the senior non-commissioned officer in Beauchamp’s company. The sergeant has serving hard time in Leavenworth for the murder of four Iraqi detainees after a mission in Iraq, a conviction based not on evidence, but the questionable testimony of two soldiers already facing disciplinary action for other crimes. Hatley was sentenced to life in prison by a military court for the murder of four Iraqi detainees in Iraq in 2007. The three were serving time at the military prison in Leavenworth, Kansas for alleged war crimes.

First Sgt. John Hatley, of Groesbeck, was released Friday and did not waste any time marrying Pamela Miller, whom he met while in prison in Fort Leavenworth, Kansas. Also known as address verification, an address lookup involves getting extra information about a location, including zip codes and street names to help you confirm the accuracy of the area in question. For the most part, people use an address lookup to run background checks on neighborhoods, businesses, individuals, and properties. According to testimony this week and at previous courts-martial, four Iraqis were taken into custody in spring 2007 after an exchange of fire with Hatley’s unit. And for fifty points, what happened to the woman in command of Abu Ghraib military prison?

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Further, CID interviewed neighbors from the surrounding areas who said no one was missing from the neighborhood. Hatley and his men chased the insurgents to a house about four blocks away from the initial firefight. The house was occupied by women and children who said they were the men’s wives and children. The men were taken into custody and a large cache of weapons and ammunition was recovered. In the wake of the backlash, the Army upper echelon engaged in an effort to “prove” that they held US soldiers to high standards of engagement and accountability for their actions.

Neighbors in the area were also questioned and they too said no one was missing or dead. The farmer who owned the land of the supposed killings said he knew of no one being killed. Some soldiers said there were four prisoners; some said there were five. Granting parole does not alter a person’s conviction or guilty status, it is a means by which to release prisoners who have served a portion of their sentences and shown good conduct. Parole violations will send a person back to prison, as they are still guilty of the crimes they committed.

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Immunity was not granted, but his attorney had already given CID the file. All men in the patrol were interrogated intensely with some being threatened with life in prison. All of them but John Hatley took plea deals rather than risk “life in prison.” The threats were probably similar to what Lieutenant General Michael Flynn was subjected to by the FBI in the whole Russian collusion caper. Former 1st Sgt. John Hatley was originally sentenced to life in prison, which was later reduced, and he was granted parole when he became eligible last year.

Deployment to Iraq

That coupled with his client’s exemplary behavior while incarcerated for nearly a dozen years and testimony and letters of support likely played a large role in his parole being granted. Two charged in the deaths, Sgt. 1st Class Joseph Mayo of North Carolina, and Sgt. Michael “Doc” Leahy of Downers Grove, Illinois, both pleaded guilty to executing the detainees along with Hatley. When the regiment mustered out on September 5, 1865 at Knoxville, it was recorded that he was owed $22.98 from the government for his clothing, had received a bounty of $25, and was owed a $75 bounty. Soon after being discharged from the Confederate service, Hatley had a change in his loyalties and enlisted as a private in Company E, 13th Tennessee Volunteer Cavalryen on September 24, 1863 in Greeneville, Tennessee for a period of three years.