The trial lasted four months. It took only three days to screen jurors, mainly because most jury candidates admitted that they supported Kelly and that they were biased against the government's allegations. A juror candidate said, "It seems to me that someone is trying to frame someone." Another man said he didn't think it was right to sue Kelly. A colonel said, "We never know who the enemy is there, really." Because of sympathy for Kelly and hostility to government prosecution, 25 officers were exempted from jury service.
Before the trial began, Kelly sarcastically said, "It's true:1In the early morning of March, 968, I kept vigil with the chief officers, and then I planned to kill those people in Meilai Village. I loaded the magazine. God, how can you plan? Of course, in Vietnam, we call it a surprise attack. "
The prosecution has 62 witnesses and the defense has 44 witnesses. No witness from the village of Mele spoke to the judge. One by one, the prosecution called witnesses to describe Kelly's cruel crime in Meilai village. The defendant argued that Kelly was just the scapegoat of the army and the responsibility for the massacre should be borne by Captain Medina. Several soldiers testified for Kelly. They told the court that Medina ordered the killing of Vietnamese civilians.
The defendant also summoned two psychoanalysts, who proved that Kelly lacked the mental ability to premeditated murder of Vietnamese civilians. Both doctors proved that Kelly was under great mental stress at that time, and his limited mental state and psychological structure could not control such a large-scale massacre. Subsequently, one of the doctors was disqualified as a witness because the judge presiding over the trial doubted the truth of his testimony.
Kelly also defended herself. In direct interrogation, he admitted that he had shot and killed several Vietnamese civilian prisoners in Mylai village. However, he insisted that he was following Captain Medina's orders, and he denied killing 102 civilians that day. Kelly made it clear that he "has no regrets". He said that on at least five different occasions, Medina told him that all the residents of Meilai village must be eradicated, so he carried out these orders. Kelly also said that he never doubted the legality of Medina's order, and he was and will be proud to serve under Captain Medina.
However, the most deadly witness for the defense is Captain Medina. When they entered the court, he and Kelly nodded to each other and gave each other a brief greeting: "Hi! How are you? " Medina then testified that he never ordered the killing of Vietnamese civilians. When asked whether civilians should be killed, he further testified: "No, you can't kill women and children. You have to be reasonable. You can fight them back, but you must be reasonable. " In addition, Medina claimed that at the beginning of the massacre, he ordered the ground troops not to kill any unarmed civilians. Medina said that two days after the massacre, he met Kelly and asked him if there were atrocities. Medina quoted Kelly as saying, "God, I can still hear screams." But the court thought it was an unacceptable confession, so this sentence was erased from the court record. When Medina stepped down from the witness box, she turned to salute the judge and then walked out of the court without looking at Kelly.
Just as the jury retired to deliberate, Kelly made his last request He said that the army never told him that his enemy was human. He urged the jury to understand this.
Three years and two weeks after the massacre in Mylai village, the military jury found that Captain william kelly had murdered 65,438+002 Vietnamese civilians. He was sentenced to hard labor for life. 1974, Kelly's lifelong hard labor was reduced to 10 years. Initially, the military appeals court ordered Kelly to be held in the military prison in Fort Benning. But President Nixon canceled the order and asked Kelly to be placed under house arrest in an apartment. Kelly was released after staying in his apartment for three years.
More than 30 people involved in the massacre were investigated. Some of them-including Medina-were sent to a military court, and Medina was initially accused of murdering 65,438+002 Vietnamese civilians. However, the charge was later reduced to the murder of a Vietnamese woman, and he was finally acquitted. Kelly was the only one who was imprisoned for the massacre.
This case is only a representative of the crimes committed by the United States in the Vietnam War. As can be seen from the trial results, the trial is just a formality, in order to give an explanation to the outside world. But the performance of Captain Hugh Thompson, the key figure in this case, still makes people see the brilliance of human nature in the cruel war.