http://www.azcentral.com/news/articles/0123iraq-suffocate23.html

Army interrogator found guilty in death

John Sarche Associated Press Jan. 23, 2006 12:00 AM

FORT CARSON, Colo. - An Army interrogator committed negligent homicide when he put a sleeping bag over an Iraqi general's head and sat on his chest as the man suffocated, a military jury found.

Attorneys for Chief Warrant Officer Lewis Welshofer Jr. said he believed the general had information that would "break the back of the whole insurgency" at a time when soldiers were being killed in an increasingly lethal and bold resistance.

But prosecutor Maj. Tiernan Dolan said Welshofer tortured Iraqi Maj. Gen. Abed Hamed Mowhoush at a detention camp in 2003, treating him "worse than you would treat a dog."

After six hours of deliberations, the panel of six Army officers spared Welshofer on the more serious charge of murder, which carries a potential life sentence, instead convicting him late Saturday of negligent homicide and negligent dereliction of duty. He was acquitted of assault.

Welshofer showed no reaction to the verdict. He could be dishonorably discharged and sentenced to a maximum of three years and three months in prison at a hearing today.