Court-martial set for airman

A 21-year-old Offutt Air Force Base airman accused of fatally shooting a friend during a game of “trust” will face a court-martial next week.

Military prosecutors charged Corey D. Hernandez of Walnut, Calif., with unpremeditated murder while engaged in an inherently dangerous act and two lesser charges in the Dec. 11 death of 23-year-old Airman Michael Garcia. If convicted, Hernandez faces up to life in prison.

The trial begins Monday. Miles Brown, an Offutt spokesman, said court officials have set aside five days for the trial.

Hernandez’s attorney, James Martin Davis, said Tuesday that he hopes to get the charge reduced to manslaughter, punishable by 10 to 15 years in prison. Davis said Hernandez did not know there was a round in the chamber of the gun. Hernandez had faced a manslaughter charge in Sarpy County Court before the case was transferred to a military court.

Bellevue police were called to the Gateway Park Apartments near Cornhusker and Fort Crook Roads at 12:47 a.m. Dec. 11.

Moments before, Garcia stared down the barrel of a handgun and told Hernandez, “Pull it, shoot me,” according to court testimony.

Hernandez did, and the gun fired, striking Garcia in the left eye. The shot killed him.

Hernandez looked shocked and blurted, “What happened? I don’t know what happened! What did I do?” testified Senior Airman Dustin Dieter.

Dieter, who testified that he was drunk when he witnessed the shooting, was one of three airmen questioned about that night and the so-called “trust me” game the young men had been playing with Garcia’s laser-sighted handgun.

In the game, the shooter apparently uses sleight of hand to make the gun appear loaded, but partially inserts the ammunition clip or a dummy round so the gun won’t fire. Other military deaths have been linked to the game.

According to national news reports, servicemen consider it a confidence-building exercise to point a gun at a comrade and ask, “Do you trust me?” Military officials say the game, which has resulted in at least five deaths, violates basic weapons safety rules.

Dieter testified that Garcia, of San Benito, Texas, had learned the game while deployed. He said Garcia told him Marines play the game, pushing the magazine in, but not all the way, so the gun won’t fire.

Dieter said he once had seen Garcia point the gun at his own head and pull the trigger.

He said Garcia sometimes used a dummy round, but he wasn’t sure if he had been using it that night.

He said Garcia brought his gun to Dieter’s apartment about 9:30 p.m., where the airmen were drinking beer, rum and mixed drinks, before they went to another Bellevue apartment where the shooting occurred.

Dr. David Jaskierny Jr., who performed the autopsy on Garcia, testified that Garcia’s blood-alcohol level was .219, nearly three times the legal limit.

Airman Robert Castillon, 21, testified that Garcia had put the gun under Castillon’s chin, asked him to trust him and then pulled the trigger.

Defense attorney Davis asked why Castillon had let Garcia do it.

“I trusted him,” Castillon said. “I believed he was a good person.”

Airman 1st Class Jason Mulherin, 25, said Garcia had pointed the gun at several of the airmen’s heads and one’s chest, asking if they trusted him. He said Garcia had pointed the gun at Hernandez’s head and pulled the trigger.

Mulherin said he had heard of the game before that night but had not seen it played.

“It’s common for people in the military to play dangerous games,” he said.

Contact the writer:

444-1336, leia.mendoza@owh.com

« Crime/Courts

Share