DONGDUCHEON, South Korea — The court martial of a U.S. soldier accused of negligent homicide in the road deaths of two South Korean girls opened Monday at a U.S. military base. Outside, about 100 anti-U.S. protesters burned an American flag and hurled eggs over the fence.
Sgt. Fernando Nino faces up to six years in a U.S. prison if convicted in a case that triggered an outcry in South Korea, which hosts 37,000 American soldiers but does not have jurisdiction over them if they are accused of crimes while on duty. Nino’s hometown was not released at his request. Once a verdict is delivered, another soldier, Sgt. Mark Walker of Acworth, Ga., will go on trial on the same charge. Each trial is expected to last three days.
The men, who belong to the 2nd U.S. Infantry Division, were on a training mission near the border with North Korea on June 13, when their armored vehicle struck two 14-year-old girls, Shim Mi-son and Shin Hyo-sun.
Sgt. Patrick Jones, a gunner in a Bradley fighting vehicle nearby when the girls were hit, told the court that he thought Nino and Walker were at fault. He said he saw vehicle commander Nino smiling down at Walker, the driver, just before the accident.
“We screamed at the top of our lungs” for Nino and Walker to stop, said Maj. William Rivett, the Bradley commander. He said he also tried to signal the men with his arm. “If I could see them, I expected they could see me,” he said.
He said Nino’s eyes “went wider” after the accident, and he seemed “very surprised.”
Second Pvt. Kyle Rousch, a witness in another U.S. military vehicle, told the court that the victims were walking with their heads down and their fingers in their ears, presumably to block out the din of military traffic.
Rousch said there was room for the girls to step to the side of the road to avoid the vehicle.
The defense lawyer, Maj. Robert Broughton, said the accident was “beyond Nino’s control.” Nino had not received a safety briefing beforehand and had not had sufficient rest before the mission, Broughton said.
