Alberto Martinez, the soldier who murdered my late husband, Army Captain Phillip Esposito and Army 1st Lieutenant Louis Allen, is dead. At least per this page [subsequnetly removed] posted by the Bevis Funeral Home of Crawfordville, Florida.
Alberto Martinez’s essence was twofold. There was his murderous rage. And there was his stunning ability to get away with it.
From the evidence presented at trial, Martinez murdered my husband because Phillip was perhaps the only leader to ever hold Martinez to the standard of a soldier. For this, Martinez felt set upon and picked upon, so he destroyed my husband’s life with a claymore mine. Lou Allen was simply Martinez’s replacement. That alone merited Lou's death in Martinez’s eyes.
Nevermind myself, or Lou’s wife, Barbara. Nevermind my daughter, Madeline, or Lou’s sons, Trevor, Colin, Sean, and Jeremy. Nevermind Phillip and Lou's parents and siblings. Our hearts were mere collateral. They probably didn’t even figure.
Suffice it to say that the court-martial that acquitted Martinez did so without cause—at least without any cause that the panel members who voted to acquit have been honorable enough to share publicly. Thus Martinez was the man who murdered and got away with it.
Should the Army also get away with it? Should it not be judged for its errors and be made to reform itself accordingly? Whether it does, or not, remains to be seen.
But it should be seen. And it will be seen when those associated with this tragedy honestly answer the following question: just what was it about Alberto Martinez that allowed him to get past you?
