Dustin Berg

Dustin Berg (born February 19, 1983) is a former member of the Indiana National Guard.

Berg later claimed that, while on patrol with his Iraqi partner, he had a sudden premonition that his partner represented a danger to him. So he shot him three times, killing him.

Court martial Berg's court martial convened on July 25, 2005. On July 26, 2005, Berg pleaded guilty to negligent homicide, making false official statements, and self-injury in a hostile-fire zone.

Berg was defended by Charles Gittins, an officer in the United States Marine Corps Reserve who defends American servicemen in his civilian practice.

Reaction In June 2006 the Associated Press distributed an article on pressure within the US military justice system to impose stiffer sentences on soldiers who kill outside of the context of battle—including re-introducing capital punishment. The article listed twenty past or pending cases, including Berg's, that contributed to the pressure to resuming seeking death sentences.

In March 2008, when Berg's unit returned to Iraq, the Indianapolis Star noted Berg's conviction, in the context of new, tighter, rules of engagement intended to prevent GIs killing Iraqis who weren't enemies. The paper quoted instructions the new commander of Berg's old battalion, Lieutenant Colonel Rodney Fogg, issued to the men in Berg's old battalion:

In 2012 Alan F. Williams, a professor of law at Idaho University, wrote an article in which he claimed that the Berg case was questionably handled.