Former Army Ranger Michael Behenna is asking the president for vindication after an appeals courts refused to overturn his 2009 murder conviction.
Michael Behenna wears a scarf he brought home from Iraq at his farm near Guthrie, Okla., where he has been living since his parole from military prison. By Ian Shapira Ian Shapira Enterprise reporter covering the Washington region and beyond Email Bio Follow April 23 at 3:34 PM Before he spent five years in prison for murdering a suspected al-Qaeda detainee, Michael Behenna was a rising military officer from a prominent law enforcement family.
Prompted by adulatory profiles on “Fox & Friends,” President Trump has voiced support for a Navy SEAL and a Green Beret who have been charged with murder but haven’t faced trial yet. Behenna was told that he had to complete his parole in 2024 before he could seek a pardon recommendation from the Justice Department. But two months ago, he said he learned that the agency might be considering his application, after all.
Carnage from a roadside bomb On April 21, 2008, Behenna was riding in the second of a three-truck convoy north of Baghdad when the third vehicle behind him suddenly shot into the sky, blown up by a roadside bomb. Mansur was interrogated but freed because the military could not find conclusive evidence linking him to the explosion, the pardon application says.
Finally, Mansur said something in Arabic that Behenna didn’t understand. He turned to his interpreter for help, he said, but that’s when he heard something hit the culvert’s wall. When he pivoted back to the prisoner, Behenna claims Mansur had just thrown a rock and was now standing up and reaching for his Glock. Behenna stepped to the side and fired one shot into Mansur’s chest, the next to his head.
Prosecutors said Behenna ordered another soldier, Staff Sgt. Hal Warner, to burn the body with an “incendiary” grenade — an accusation that Behenna denies and that two other witnesses said they never heard. “I was scared Ali Mansur was going to take my weapon and use it against me,” he told the military panel of seven officers. “This happened very fast.” He described the sequence of his movements — turning to face Mansur and stepping to the left before firing two shots.
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