One Not Guilty for My Lai

Over two years ago in a village called My Lai, the U.S. Army believes that some of its soldiers participated in the massacre of unarmed Vietnamese men, women and children. Last week Lieut. William L. Galley went on trial at Fort Benning, Ga., for the premeditated murder of 102 My Lai villagers. In all, the Army has charged 17 men in connection with the incident. As Galley's court-martial got under way, the first of these soldiers to come to trial, S/Sgt. David Mitchell, 30, was exonerated by a military court at Fort Hood, Texas.

It took the seven-officer jury six hours and 40 minutes of deliberation to find Sgt. Mitchell not guilty of assault with intent to murder 30 Vietnamese civilians in an irrigation ditch. The charges against Mitchell carried maximum penalties of 20 years in prison.

It was a trial marked by peculiarities. The trial judge prohibited four key prosecution witnesses from testifying because a House subcommittee that had investigated My Lai had not released transcripts of the soldiers' testimony during the committee's closed hearings. The U.S. Army prosecutor rested the case against Mitchell after only six hours. Just three witnesses were called by the prosecution, although 14 had been subpoenaed and seven were at Fort Hood waiting to take the stand. At that time Prosecutor Captain Michael Swan tried to dismiss speculation that the abbreviated case was an attempt to whitewash the events at My Lai by asserting that his three witnesses had proved the charges.

Two of the prosecution witnesses swore that they saw Mitchell standing at the ditch, and that they heard rifle fire. But neither could swear that they saw Mitchell shoot anyone. The third, Radioman Charles Sledge, said he was "positive" he saw Mitchell firing at the civilians. Mitchell's civilian defense attorney, Ossie B. Brown, discredited Sledge's account, quoting testimony Sledge gave to Army investigators: "I believe it was Sgt. Mitchell firing into the ditch." The testimony of a prosecution witness, Dennis Conti, was weakened when fellow Army witnesses swore that they had heard Conti declare: "He [Mitchell] tried to get me killed in the field. I don't care if they hang him now." Mitchell took the stand and, when Captain Swan asked him about his role in the assault on the village, burst into tears and said, "I've been thinking about it for a year and a half and I'm positive I shot at no one."

Gut the Military. Defense Attorney Brown argued to the jury (two colonels, three captains and two lieutenants, six of them Viet Nam veterans) that the trial was an attempt to discredit the Army itself. "I don't like to see the prosecution of any young man sent to fight for his country. I don't like what is happening in this country today. Some elements are trying to undermine and destroy the military of this country. They'd love to gut the military because when you gut the military, you destroy a country. Every time you turned around, some liberal bird would get out and make a speech or write a book about [My Lai]. This decision will have impact on all young men who will serve their country. We need soldiers such as Sgt. Mitchell," Brown concluded. "Let's not betray him."

The court-martial of Lieut. Galley will not turn on such simplistic arguments. Trial Judge Colonel Reid W. Kennedy indicated that he would allow defense lawyers to examine witnesses about broader areas, such as Army policy toward search-and-destroy missions and "free-fire zones," thus calling into question not only Lieut. Galley's conduct at My Lai, but the conduct of the Viet Nam War.

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