Oregon Public Broadcasting

Military prosecutors presented their case Monday against Specialist Jeremy Morlock.

He’s one of five members of the Fifth Stryker Brigade accused of murdering three civilians while deployed in Afghanistan.

Austin Jenkins has been covering what’s known in military parlance as an Article 32 hearing. He says he says there’s very little physical evidence of the crimes.

Austin Jenkins: “They have videotaped statements from some of the accused. But what they don’t have is they don’t have the bodies of the alleged murder victims. They don’t have forensic evidence. In fact, we heard from one of the Army investigators that the investigators couldn’t even go to the scene of these alleged murders because the territory was too hostile.”

That's reporter Austin Jenkins. He says prosecutors have videotaped testimony by Specialist Morlock describing the alleged crimes. But Morlock’s attorney argues the statement is not reliable because the soldier was under the influence of prescription drugs.

The purpose of the Article 32 hearing is to decide whether Morlock will receive a full court martial.