WASHINGTON, D.C. — A U.S Army Green Beret, initially cleared by the U.S. Military of any wrong doing, is now facing a murder charge for killing an suspected Taliban bombmaker without clearance back in 2010.
Maj. Mathew Golsteyn is charged with murder and is now waiting for an Article 32 hearing which will likely happen next year, says Indiana Congressman Jim Banks, who is the most recently deployed member of Congress serving in Afghanistan between 2014 and 2015.
“At that hearing they will determine whether or not a general court marshal will occur sometime in the near future,” Banks told Fox News. “This process is just in the very beginning. I know the President has taken a special interest.”
The President tweeted soon after the murder charges were filed by U.S. Army Special Operations Command.
“I will be reviewing the case of a ‘U.S. Military hero,’ Major Matt Golsteyn, who is charged with murder,” Trump tweeted. “He could face the death penalty from our own government after he admitted to killing a Terrorist bomb maker while overseas.”
Golsteyn had been deployed to Afghanistan with the 3rd Special Forces Group in 2010. During an engagement, two Marines in his unit ended up getting killed by booby-trapped explosives hidden in the area. Soon after, Golsteyn and his men found the suspected bombmaker.
The problem, however, was that the man they detained was not on an authorized list of targets they were allowed to kill. In the end, Golsteyn told Fox News he killed the man since he refused to talk to investigators. It’s still unclear how Golsteyn killed the suspect.
The Pentagon released a statement on the case being reopened saying “the allegations against Major Matt Golsteyn are a law enforcement matter. The Department of Defense will respect the integrity of this process and provide updates when appropriate.”
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(PHOTO: brianajackson/ThinkStock)
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