Deaths of Phillip Esposito and Louis Allen The fragging deaths of Phillip Esposito and Louis Allen occurred on June 7 , 2005 , at Forward Operating Base Danger in Tikrit , Iraq . Captain Phillip Esposito and First Lieutenant Louis Allen , from a New York Army National Guard unit of the United States 42nd Infantry Division , were mortally wounded in Esposito ' s office by a Claymore mine and died . Military investigators determined that the mine was deliberately placed in the window and detonated to kill Esposito and Allen . Staff Sergeant Alberto B . Martinez , who was in the officers ' unit , was charged with two counts of premeditated murder . In 2006 , two years before the trial , Martinez volunteered in a plea bargain to plead guilty to murder in exchange for a life sentence without parole ; Lt . Gen . John Vines , commander of the Army ’ s 18th Airborne Corps and the convening authority rejected the deal . In the court martial , Martinez was acquitted on December 4 , 2008 at Fort Bragg , North Carolina . The case was one of only two publicly known alleged fragging incidents among American forces during the Iraq war and the only one to take place in Iraq , in contrast to numerous incidents among United States forces during the Vietnam War of the 1970s . In April 2005 , Sergeant Hasan Karim Akbar was convicted on charges of premeditated murder and sentenced to death for the first incident , which took place in March 2003 in Kuwait . Due to the sentence , as of August 2013 , his case is still proceeding through automatic appeals . Attack . On the evening of June 7 , 2005 , Captain Phillip Esposito , 30 , and First Lieutenant Louis Allen , 34 , were playing the board game " Risk " in Esposito ' s office in the Water Palace building on the United States Forward Operating Base ( FOB ) Danger in Tikrit , Iraq . The officers were from the Headquarters and Headquarters Company of the 42nd Infantry Division , a New York Army National Guard unit from Troy , New York ; it was deployed to Iraq in support of American operations in the Iraq War . Esposito was the company commander and had been stationed in Iraq about six months . Allen was the company ' s new operations officer ; he had arrived in the unit just four days before . At 10 p . m . , a M18A1 Claymore mine placed next to the window of Esposito ' s office exploded , blasting 700 steel ball bearings into the office space and fatally wounding the two officers . Seconds later , several grenades exploded in the vicinity of Esposito ' s office . The two injured officers were rushed to a hospital at Forward Operating Base Speicher . Both died early June 8 , 2005 , from serious internal injuries suffered in the first explosion . Focus on Martinez . Military investigators initially thought that the two officers were killed by an insurgent mortar or rocket attack . When they determined that the blast was deliberately caused by a hand - placed explosive device , they began looking for suspects . Learning that Staff Sergeant Alberto B . Martinez , 37 , had made numerous threats against Esposito , and based on their investigation , they arrested and charged him with two counts of premeditated murder . This happened the same week in June that Esposito and Allen were buried in their home towns . From Schaghticoke , New York near Troy , Martinez is married with two children . He had joined the National Guard in 1990 and been assigned to Iraq in 2004 . He was serving as the supply sergeant of the unit headed by Esposito and Allen . Esposito and Martinez had come into conflict before arriving in Tikrit in April 2004 , as Esposito tried to bring the sergeant in line . Martinez was later described in court " as a poorly disciplined and foul - mouthed guardsman who needed a special waiver to qualify for duty . " Witnesses testified that Martinez " could not account for hundreds of thousands of dollars in missing equipment . " Esposito eventually restricted Martinez from going into the supply area without an escort . Martinez feared Esposito would get him kicked out of the Guard , costing him $ 2 , 859 in monthly pay . Witnesses later testified that Martinez had openly threatened to kill Esposito . The captain had already disciplined Martinez for poor job performance ; he had also initiated proceedings that might have resulted in Martinez being discharged from the military or removed from his full - time Guard position . Esposito was considered the target of the attack , as Allen had arrived in the unit in Tikrit only days before . Witnesses placed Martinez in the vicinity of the Water Palace shortly after the explosion . Proceeding to trial . In October and November 2005 , the military held an Article 32 hearing , similar to a grand jury hearing , in Kuwait rather than Tikrit , in order to allow the wives of Martinez , Esposito and Allen to attend ; all three did . In addition , the Army arranged for transmission of an audio link of the two - day proceedings to West Point to allow other family members in the area to follow them . Nine witnesses testified . Colonel Patrick Reinert recommended a general court - martial for Martinez on murder charges based on the evidence presented . In early 2006 Martinez learned of additional evidence against him . This included testimony from a soldier who said she had given Martinez Claymore mines and grenades shortly before the killings . On April 3 , 2006 , he volunteered to plead guilty to murder in exchange for a life sentence without the possibility of parole . But , Lieutenant General John Vines , commander of the XVIII Airborne Corps and convening authority over the legal proceedings , rejected the plea agreement . Vines sent the case to court - martial under two counts of premeditated murder , Article 118 of the Uniform Code of Military Justice . In April 2007 the defense asked for more time to prepare its case and presented the judge with four motions . In addition to the charges of premeditated murder , at the time Martinez was charged with one count each of wrongful possession of a privately owned firearm , unexploded ordnance , and alcohol . The other charge against him was for wrongfully giving government property , in this case printers and copiers , to an Iraqi national . One of the defense motions was to sever the murder charges from the others . The case was scheduled to go to trial in August 2007 . In August 2008 , the defense asked the judge to dismiss the murder charges , because of what they alleged was the prosecutor trying to influence a witness who could help the defense . The judge refused the request . The court - martial was held at Fort Bragg , North Carolina , beginning in October 2008 , with Colonel Stephen Henley sitting as the trial judge . During the trial , Sergeant Sandra Pelton , a 42nd Division cook , testified for the prosecution that Martinez twice mentioned fragging when he came through her dining facility a few days before the explosion . On one occasion when Pelton asked Martinez how he was doing , he made a noise simulating an explosion and said , " Frag him , frag . I mean it . " Approximately 20 other soldiers and officers testified that they had heard Martinez threaten or insult Esposito . Martinez ' s defense team countered that the Army ' s evidence against Martinez was circumstantial , and prosecution witnesses ' testimonies were inconsistent . The defense team also presented evidence that Martinez was not the only soldier in the unit with a grudge against Esposito . After two days of deliberations , the jury acquitted Martinez on December 4 , 2008 . In the military , a two - thirds vote by the jury is needed for conviction . The prosecutor in the case speculated that some jurors ' known opposition to the death penalty may have influenced their votes for acquittal . Acquittal and honorable discharge . Soon after his acquittal , Martinez received an honorable discharge from the military ; he " proclaimed his innocence and a sense of vindication . " The prosecution repeated their belief that he was guilty ; they were crushed by the verdict . The U . S . Army has not publicly identified or charged any other suspects in the killings . When it was revealed that Martinez had offered in 2006 to plead guilty in a plea bargain , debate arose again about whether the prosecution ' s pursuit of the death penalty may lead defendants to plead guilty for crimes they have not committed . This has been an issue in the civilian justice system . At the same time , military spokesmen had discussed concerns that Martinez might have gotten parole within 10 years if sentenced to life , even after pleading guilty to killing the two officers . Siobhan Esposito and Barbara Allen , the widows of the officers , have continued to pursue justice for their husbands ' deaths . Esposito opposed the Obama administration ' s nomination of Major General Joseph Taluto as director of the Army National Guard . Taluto served as the general in charge of their husbands ' National Guard unit . Esposito argued that Taluto should have taken action and disciplined Martinez for his many threats against her husband , and thus prevented the attack . After Esposito complained to the Senate Armed Services Committee about Taluto , he withdrew his nomination . " Since the trial , the widows have pushed for the military to strictly enforce regulations that prohibit threats against superiors and require soldiers to report violations of " good order and discipline . " The case was one of only two publicly known instances of U . S . Army enlisted soldiers charged with intentionally killing superior officers during the Iraq war and the only one to occur in Iraq . In 2005 , Hasan Akbar was convicted of killing two officers in Kuwait in 2003 and sentenced to death . Because of the death sentence , the case has automatic appeals up to the United States Supreme Court , and is still underway as of March 14 , 2013 . During the lengthy Vietnam War , there were more than 200 confirmed cases of fragging deaths and many more people wounded in such attacks .