A court-martial was expected to wrap up Friday for a U.S. soldier accused of killing a civilian contractor in Iraq, and a military judge will then decide whether Pfc. Carl T. Stovall was mentally competent when prosecutors say he shot the Hungarian laborer to death.
Stovall has pleaded not guilty in the March 2009 shooting of Tibor Bogdan near Camp Taji, just north of Baghdad. The shooting came less than a month into Stovall's third deployment to the Middle East.
Bogdan was shot while digging a hole at the camp. Stovall had allegedly once told investigators he believed Bogdan, who worked for a contractor specializing in trash and waste removal, was a terrorist planting a roadside bomb. Prosecutors, however, say Stovall, now 28, has changed his story multiple times, allegedly denying any involvement in one version.
