Duty, Death, Dishonor

A Soldier Returns From War And Vanishes

(CBS) 
But shortly after Burgoyne was arrested, Billie discovered medical records among his things that she says explain a lot about her son's actions that night. Soon after he left the war zone, Burgoyne reported that he thought he might hurt someone. Even more alarming, while in Kuwait about a week before the murder, he overdosed on prescription drugs.

Burgoyne tells Moriarty he tried to kill himself and ended up in a medical clinic, where he says he wanted to get help. "It scared me, really," he says.

Burgoyne was diagnosed with PTSD, post-traumatic stress disorder, and it was directed that he be monitored at all times, that he not carry weapons and that he report to the psychiatric unit when he returned to Fort Benning.

"Jake literally, for the most part, lived life on the edge physically and mentally he's capable of doing a lot of things," says Harris. "And when you have that type of soldier confront you with a problem, you better take action right away."

When Burgoyne arrived at Fort Benning, Billie was there to greet her son. She was surprised when he was immediately escorted to the psychiatric unit of the hospital. But he never saw a psychiatrist, he just spoke to one on the phone.

"And he told me, 'Look, you come back and show up Monday. Just promise me you'll be there.' And I said 'OK, I will,' " recalls Burgoyne.

Then Burgoyne was simply released without treatment. Four days later, Richard was murdered.

"The Army just said, well, 'OK, call us Monday and go ahead and have a good time,' in effect," says psychologist John Stuart Currie, who was hired by Burgoyne's attorney.

Currie says it was not a responsible way to handle someone like Burgoyne. "He should have been hospitalized in a locked unit," he says.

Lanny thinks Burgoyne is just making excuses, and that all four soldiers are guilty. For one, Lanny says he doesn't believe Burgoyne suffered from post traumatic stress disorder. "Let's say they all did have PTSD, there's still no excuse for murdering a man like that, like they murdered my son," he says.

As they prepare for the trial, prosecutors Stacey Jackson and Gray Conger make a pivotal decision: they believe Burgoyne's version of the story, and will argue that Martinez did all the stabbing. Proving that, however, wouldn’t be easy.

"Our evidence against Martinez was very lacking at that point, so we wanted somebody to testify," says Conger.

There's no physical evidence that ties Martinez to the murder, so prosecutors need at least two of the others to testify against him. After months of negotiating, they get what they want, but not the two soldiers they were expecting.

Woodcoff is the first to agree to testify. Prosecutors then offer to drop the murder charges against Navarette in exchange for his testimony. Surprisingly he turns the deal down, which leaves prosecutors with the one option they had hoped to avoid—they must strike a deal with Burgoyne, the man who admits he started the attack against Richard that night.

"Were you at all concerned when you picked Burgoyne to make a deal with that you might be making a deal with the guy who did the actual stabbing?" Moriarty asks Jackson.

"I had no concern," Jackson replies.

Finally, on Jan. 23, 2006, in a Columbus, Ga., courthouse, Alberto Martinez and Mario Navarette go on trial for the murder of Richard Davis.