Trial Begins for Private Charged in Army Slaying

An Army private accused of bludgeoning a fellow soldier to death with a baseball bat went on trial Tuesday as military prosecutors said for the first time that the victim was killed because he was thought to be gay.

Pvt. Calvin N. Glover, 18, of Sulphur, Okla., is charged with premeditated murder in the slaying of Pfc. Barry L. Winchell, 21, in July.

Before the start of the court-martial, Glover admitted to a lesser charge of unpremeditated murder in hopes of receiving a lighter sentence. But prosecutor Capt. Gregg Engler pressed on with the court-martial, seeking to prove the more serious charge.

Engler said he would show premeditation by introducing evidence that Glover hates gays and suspected that Winchell was homosexual.

“The overall feelings of hatred toward these classes or groups shows the motive,” the prosecutor said in describing racial, ethnic and anti-gay comments attributed to Glover.

Premeditated and unpremeditated murder carry the same maximum sentence: life in prison without parole, plus a dishonorable discharge.

Glover sobbed while recalling the killing to the judge, Col. Gary J. Holland. He said he did not know why he hit Winchell “at least two or three times” with a bat during the July 5 attack in their Ft. Campbell barracks.

In his opening statement, Engler said Winchell actually received up to five blows, which came with such force that blood spattered on the ceiling and on a wall 15 feet away. The first strike came as Winchell slept on a cot.

Glover said that he had been drinking before the attack and that another soldier, Spec. Justin R. Fisher, encouraged him to use the bat to avenge a punch that Winchell gave Glover during a party.

“I wasn’t really mad at him, sir. It was just a mistake, sir. I was really drunk,” Glover told the judge.

Capt. Thomas Moshang, a member of Glover’s defense team, said Fisher wanted Winchell dead, but Glover merely wanted to hurt Winchell.

Fisher, 25, of Lincoln, Neb., who was Winchell’s roommate, will be court-martialed at Ft. Campbell on Monday.