CALLEY SENTENCED TO LIFE
FOR MURDERS AT MYLAI 4;
LENGTHY REVIEW TO BEGIN
OUSTER ORDERED
APR
1 1371
But He Will Keep His
Rank Till Sentence
Is Reconsidered
By HOMER BIGART
Special to Ma New Yealk Mines
Assocfated Press
Lieut. William L. Calley Jr. after sentencing yesterday
FORT BENNING, Ga., March
31—First Lieut. William L. Calley Jr. was sentenced to life
imprisonment today for slaying
at least 22 South Vietnamese
civilians three years ago at the
hamlet of Mylai 4.
The military jury also ordered
his dismissal from the Army
and the forfeiture of his pay
and allowances, although he
will retain his officer's status
and continue to be paid until
his case is reviewed by another
command.
His sentence could be overturned during the automatic
military appeal process, and the
term could be shortened at any
time by the exercise of clemency by President Nixon or Secretary of the Army Stanley R.
Resor.
If the sentence is allowed to
stand, Lieutenant Caney would
be eligible for parole after serving 10 years.
TB Do My Best, Sir'
The longest court-inertial In
history ended at 2:35 P.M.,
when the short, stocky platoon
leader, convicted Monday of
premeditated murder, marched
up to the jury box with two
of his lawyers.
His face normally pink, was
pale and taut. He knew that
the six career officers on the
jury could have consigned him
to the gallows. The mandatory
penalty was death or life imprisonment.
Standing at rigid attention,
Lieutenant Calley exchanged
salutes with the president of
the court, Col. Clifford H. Ford,
then braced himself.
Colonel Ford, a 53-year-old
veteran of World War II and
Korea, read the sentence:
"First Lieut. William Le
Caney, it is my duty as president of this court to inform
you that the court in closed
session and upon secret written ballot, three-fourths of the
members present at the time
the vote was taken concurring,
sentences you:
"To be confined at hard labor
for the length of your natural
life.
"To be dismissed from the
Continued on Page 18, Column 3
Calley Is Sentenced to Life for 22 Murders at Mylai 4
brought "eight concerned citi- promised to consider this ap- had been dealt "an awful rap."
zens" to Fort Benning to de- peal and gave assurances that Lieutenant Calley had been
mand freedom for Lieutenant Lieutenant Calley would not be charged by the Government
service.
transferred tonight to Fort with four counts of premedi"To forfeit all pay and allow- Calley.
citiLeavenworth. The authorities tated murder of at least 102
concerned
the
of
Three
ances."
said
did not consider it likely that Vietnamese. The jury convicted
who
youths
brawny
zens,
Lieutenant Calley seemed to
al divers, Lieutenant Calley would be him of three counts of premediprofession
were
they
go limp with relief. In a barely
tated murder and reduced the
beside her, asserting that freed pending appeal.
number of his victims to no less
audible voice he told Colonel stood
military
the
in
Lieutenant Calley was a The first step
than 22. It also found him
Ford: "I'•ll do my best, Sir."
t." They did not in- appeal process will take at least guilty of assault with intent to
"scapegoa
returned
and
Then he saluted
tervene when agents of the a year. The 5,000-page official commit the murder of a small
to the defense table.
Army's Criminal Investigation court record will not be ready child at Mylai.
"This court is closed," said Division ordered her to move until late summer. Then Army The child had attempted to
escape from a ditch filled with
the military judge, Col. Reid W. on.
When Lieutenant Calley lawyers at the headquarters of the corpses of unarmed civiliKennedy. The trial, which be- emerged,
surrounded by mili- another command, perhaps the
The government said Lieugan last Nov. 12, was over. tary policemen but unshackled, Presidio, in San Francisco, will ans.
tenant Calley had grabbed the
The jury had deliberated 13 he acknowledged with a tight spend months reviewing the child by the wrist, thrown it
days before reaching a verdict, smile the applause and cheers case.
back into the ditch and shot it.
was If that convening authority Lieutenant Calley said on the
and it had spent five hours and of the crowd. The reception
not entirely friendly. One man confirms the sentence, Lieuten- witness stand that he was act58 minutes on the sentence.
gave a thumbs-down gesture. ant Calley will be stripped of ing on orders from his supeTwo middle-aged women An. M.P. saluted Lieutenant
officer's rank, his pay will rior, Capt. Ernest L. Medina,
wept in the hushed courtroom. Calley at the curb. Then the cease, and he will be placed whose court-martial is pending
The crowd left quietly. Lieute- officer hopped into a police on hard labor at Leavenworth. at Fort McPherson, in Atlanta.
nant Calley was led down the car and returned to the post
Other Appeal Steps
Hall to the office of his law- stockale.
Appeals
appeal steps in the apCounsel
Other
yers, where he met with two
Normally, convicted soldiers peals procedure are the Court
chaplains.
are taken to the Army Disci- of Military Review, which can
Outside, about 100 persons plinary Barracks at Fort Leav- reduce sentence or acquit on
waited 30 minutes for his ap- enworth, Kan., but officers said legal grounds, and finally the
pearance. A woman in a red Lieutenant Calley might re- United States Court of Military
Appeals. Mr. Latimer may also
dress began berating the court- main here several days.
W.
appeal through the civil courts
George
counsel,
chief
His
martial in a German accent.
Latimer, appealed immediately all the way to the Supreme
`He's Been Crucified'
to the commander of Fort Hen- Court.
hoped
"He's been crucified," she ning, Maj. Gen. Orwin C. Mr. Latimer said he
t of that President Nixon would set
shouted, "Lieutenant Calley Talbott, for a defermen
nt He told Gen. Tal- aside the sentence, but he exkilled 100 Communists single- confineme
who convened this court- pressed doubt that the President
bott,
handed. He should get a medal. martial last fall, that Lieutenant would grant him an audience.
lie should be promoted to gen- Calley was not a menace to The 70-year-old lawyer from
eral."
society and would not attempt Salt Lake City, a retired judge
She identified herself as Mrs. to escape. '
of the Court of Military Appeals,
Hildegard Crochet of New Or- He said General Talbott said he felt Lieutenant Calley lE
leans and said that she had
Continued From Page 1, Col. S