thedrifter
11-12-06, 07:03 PM
Marine's mom seeks mercy for 2 from Pa. unit charged in his death
By JAY REEVES
The Associated Press
CULLMAN, Ala. - Glenda Fales didn't understand the Marines' explanation of her son's death in Iraq. How could the former football star, well-liked and quiet, wind up dead in his bunk, an M-16 slug through the back of his head?
Lance Cpl. Adam R. Fales, 21, had survived the brutal streets of Fallujah working as an MP. Now his family was told that he had been shot to death while sleeping, and it was unclear if the shooter was an insurgent or a fellow Marine.
"We could only think, `Who would do this to him?'" Fales said.
Fales wanted justice. She still does, but now she knows her son's killing on Dec. 16, 2005, was not a brutal murder but a horrible accident that also wrecked the lives of two fellow Marines, who await court martial this month. Adam Fales' mom, long past wanting an eye for an eye, supports mercy for the two under a plea agreement.
"I want them to be able to go on with their lives, to follow through with their plans," said Fales, sitting at a table with her husband Joe at a store they recently opened in Cullman, about 50 miles north of Birmingham.
Two 21-year-old Marine reservists based at a Marine Reserve Center in Lehigh County, Pa., Lance Cpls. Michael C. Fulcher and Sean P. Riley, face multiple charges in Fales' death. The three were friends, and Fales spent his final hours watching a "Star Wars" movie with them, according to his mother, and the M-16 that discharged was not supposed to be loaded.
"We can't bring Adam back. Why ruin two more lives?," she said.
Fulcher is charged with involuntary manslaughter and negligent discharge of a weapon, according to 2nd Lt. Philip W. Klay, a spokesman for the 2nd Marine Logistics Group at Camp Lejeune, N.C. Riley is accused of involuntary manslaughter and dereliction of duty.
Under the plea deal that Fales' supports, the two would be given a few months in the brig and an honorable discharge, rather than possible sentences of 10 years imprisonment and dishonorable discharges.
Klay declined comment on any possible plea agreement, and military attorneys for Fulcher and Riley did not respond to messages seeking comment.
But, Klay said, a court in any military case must decide whether to accept a plea agreement after hearing evidence at a court martial. A court martial for Fulcher will be held on Nov. 14 at Camp Lejeune, and Riley's is scheduled for the next day at the North Carolina base.
"Whether or not there is a plea agreement does not affect the conduct of the court," said Klay.
Fales, who had two brothers, including one who remains a Marine, died just two months before he was scheduled to leave Iraq. With plans to get married this fall, he was part of a group helping to prepare for Iraqi elections.
At first, Fales said, the Marines told the family he was shot to death while sleeping in his bunk, raising suspicions of a murder and sparking a feverish search for facts. Within days relatives learned the shooting was an accident, but they groped for answers to lingering questions for weeks afterward.
Documents show the military classified Fales' death as a homicide caused by a mishandled weapon, but Fales said it wasn't until a hearing in August that she got the full story of what had happened:
Fales was in a trailer shared by Riley and Fulcher, and all three were getting ready to go back out after watching a movie. Fulcher picked up Riley's weapon off a bed and it fired, striking Fales in the back of the head.
The bullet shouldn't have been in Riley's M-16, but Fales said an investigation found that neither Riley nor a sergeant properly checked the weapon to make sure the chamber was empty after he returned from patrol that day.
Fulcher had no idea the weapon was loaded.
For their actions, each man agreed to plead guilty to charges of involuntary manslaughter, Fales said. While they each could have gotten 10 years, Fulcher agreed to a deal giving him six months in custody, and Riley took an agreement giving him five months to serve.
Most importantly for Fales, Fulcher and Riley will each be able to get an honorable discharge, meaning their records won't be tainted with the stain of a dishonorable separation from the military.
At the court martial, a court will hear details of the shooting, decide whether to accept the Marines' pleas, and, if all goes according to plan, impose sentences.
Fales will have a chance to tell the court about her son - how he was a football star at Fairview High School, how he first tried to joined the Marines at 17 but she wouldn't grant permission.
What Fales won't get to express is her lingering anger over what she sees as the Corps' refusal to address a breakdown in weapon-safety procedures that contributed to her son's death.
An investigation found that no one checked Riley's weapon to ensure that it was unloaded before he carried it inside, she said, and Marines often fail to "dry fire" their weapons into sand-filled barrels as a precaution before entering buildings.
No one is being punished for failing to enforce the rules, she said. But as part of the plea, both Fulcher and Riley have agreed to join with Adam Fales' family in making a training video about the importance of gun safety, she said.
The idea that other Marines may learn something from her son's death comforts Glenda Fales.
"I don't ever want this to happen again," she said.
Ellie
By JAY REEVES
The Associated Press
CULLMAN, Ala. - Glenda Fales didn't understand the Marines' explanation of her son's death in Iraq. How could the former football star, well-liked and quiet, wind up dead in his bunk, an M-16 slug through the back of his head?
Lance Cpl. Adam R. Fales, 21, had survived the brutal streets of Fallujah working as an MP. Now his family was told that he had been shot to death while sleeping, and it was unclear if the shooter was an insurgent or a fellow Marine.
"We could only think, `Who would do this to him?'" Fales said.
Fales wanted justice. She still does, but now she knows her son's killing on Dec. 16, 2005, was not a brutal murder but a horrible accident that also wrecked the lives of two fellow Marines, who await court martial this month. Adam Fales' mom, long past wanting an eye for an eye, supports mercy for the two under a plea agreement.
"I want them to be able to go on with their lives, to follow through with their plans," said Fales, sitting at a table with her husband Joe at a store they recently opened in Cullman, about 50 miles north of Birmingham.
Two 21-year-old Marine reservists based at a Marine Reserve Center in Lehigh County, Pa., Lance Cpls. Michael C. Fulcher and Sean P. Riley, face multiple charges in Fales' death. The three were friends, and Fales spent his final hours watching a "Star Wars" movie with them, according to his mother, and the M-16 that discharged was not supposed to be loaded.
"We can't bring Adam back. Why ruin two more lives?," she said.
Fulcher is charged with involuntary manslaughter and negligent discharge of a weapon, according to 2nd Lt. Philip W. Klay, a spokesman for the 2nd Marine Logistics Group at Camp Lejeune, N.C. Riley is accused of involuntary manslaughter and dereliction of duty.
Under the plea deal that Fales' supports, the two would be given a few months in the brig and an honorable discharge, rather than possible sentences of 10 years imprisonment and dishonorable discharges.
Klay declined comment on any possible plea agreement, and military attorneys for Fulcher and Riley did not respond to messages seeking comment.
But, Klay said, a court in any military case must decide whether to accept a plea agreement after hearing evidence at a court martial. A court martial for Fulcher will be held on Nov. 14 at Camp Lejeune, and Riley's is scheduled for the next day at the North Carolina base.
"Whether or not there is a plea agreement does not affect the conduct of the court," said Klay.
Fales, who had two brothers, including one who remains a Marine, died just two months before he was scheduled to leave Iraq. With plans to get married this fall, he was part of a group helping to prepare for Iraqi elections.
At first, Fales said, the Marines told the family he was shot to death while sleeping in his bunk, raising suspicions of a murder and sparking a feverish search for facts. Within days relatives learned the shooting was an accident, but they groped for answers to lingering questions for weeks afterward.
Documents show the military classified Fales' death as a homicide caused by a mishandled weapon, but Fales said it wasn't until a hearing in August that she got the full story of what had happened:
Fales was in a trailer shared by Riley and Fulcher, and all three were getting ready to go back out after watching a movie. Fulcher picked up Riley's weapon off a bed and it fired, striking Fales in the back of the head.
The bullet shouldn't have been in Riley's M-16, but Fales said an investigation found that neither Riley nor a sergeant properly checked the weapon to make sure the chamber was empty after he returned from patrol that day.
Fulcher had no idea the weapon was loaded.
For their actions, each man agreed to plead guilty to charges of involuntary manslaughter, Fales said. While they each could have gotten 10 years, Fulcher agreed to a deal giving him six months in custody, and Riley took an agreement giving him five months to serve.
Most importantly for Fales, Fulcher and Riley will each be able to get an honorable discharge, meaning their records won't be tainted with the stain of a dishonorable separation from the military.
At the court martial, a court will hear details of the shooting, decide whether to accept the Marines' pleas, and, if all goes according to plan, impose sentences.
Fales will have a chance to tell the court about her son - how he was a football star at Fairview High School, how he first tried to joined the Marines at 17 but she wouldn't grant permission.
What Fales won't get to express is her lingering anger over what she sees as the Corps' refusal to address a breakdown in weapon-safety procedures that contributed to her son's death.
An investigation found that no one checked Riley's weapon to ensure that it was unloaded before he carried it inside, she said, and Marines often fail to "dry fire" their weapons into sand-filled barrels as a precaution before entering buildings.
No one is being punished for failing to enforce the rules, she said. But as part of the plea, both Fulcher and Riley have agreed to join with Adam Fales' family in making a training video about the importance of gun safety, she said.
The idea that other Marines may learn something from her son's death comforts Glenda Fales.
"I don't ever want this to happen again," she said.
Ellie