Alberto Martinez, soldier acquitted of killing superiors, dies

Martinez, born in Puerto Rico, graduated from Lansingburgh High School and joined the Troy-based 42nd Infantry Division. The division included the two men Martinez was charged with killing in 2005: Capt. Phillip Esposito, 30, of Suffern and 1st Lt. Louis Allen, 34, a native of Orange County living in Milford, Pa.

"Alberto Martinez got away with murder," Siobhan Esposito, the widow of the slain captain told the Times Union on Thursday. "I think it crucial to ask why. I think it crucial to ask what must we do to prevent such an injustice from happening again. I'm certainly glad Martinez is no longer a presence in my and my daughter's life. At the same time, the larger issues remain."

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On June 7, 2005, on a base in Tikrit, Iraq, Phillip Esposito and Louis Allen were playing the board game Risk in Esposito's room when a Claymore mine filled with 700 steel ball-bearings exploded outside the window. The men died the next day. Within days, prosecutors charged Martinez with the killings, known in military parlance as "fragging."

After a court martial at Fort Bragg, N.C. a military jury on Dec. 4, 2008 acquitted Martinez. Allen, a science teacher and married father of four had just arrived in Iraq days earlier. Esposito, a West Point graduate living with his wife and young daughter, was considered a by-the-book military man.

Witnesses testified Martinez was failing in his supply sergeant job, which led to friction between him and Esposito. Martinez, testimony showed, feared Esposito would cost him his livelihood.

Prosecutors said Martinez plotted to kill Esposito because of a "personal war within a war" with Esposito. They said Martinez pledged to "burn" and "frag" the captain and that after the killings, Martinez was seen "smiling, laughing, joking around."

Another supply sergeant testified Martinez was talking "a little insane toward the end" about Esposito. She said weeks before the attack she gave Martinez ammunition that included Claymore mines. He told her it would be put to "good use."

It was not enough to convince a jury to convict.

Two months after the acquittal, it was revealed Martinez was willing to plead guilty to murder 21/2 years before the trial and serve a life sentence, but Army rejected his offering.

In 2009, Siobhan Esposito asked the Senate Committee on Armed Services to look into the case, which did not happen.

Two years later, she settled a suit against the Army allowing her to review an unredacted transcript of the trial. And in 2012, she and Allen's widow, Barbara, said they learned that a juror on the panel used her military rank to bully lower-ranking jurors and halt deliberations before a verdict was reached. They asked for the matter to be investigated.