Army Medic Pleads Guilty To Iraq Murder

An Army medic accused of fatally shooting a fellow soldier during a night of heavy drinking in Iraq pleaded guilty Tuesday to unpremeditated murder and other charges.

Spc. Chris Rolan, 23, initially had been charged with premeditated murder in the Nov. 16, 2005, death of Pvt. Dylan Paytas, 20, while the two were serving with Fort Benning's 3rd Infantry Brigade in Iraq.

Rolan's court-martial had been set to begin Tuesday morning. Instead, he accepted an agreement to plead guilty to unpremeditated murder, violating a general order against drinking in Iraq, communicating a threat and reckless endangerment.

Officials said he could face life in prison when he is sentenced.

In addition to the charges involving Paytas, Rolan had been charged with assaulting and threatening to kill a 25-year-old soldier from Texas during an earlier drinking episode.

Rolan, who is from Albuquerque, N.M., also had been accused of shooting at his roommate, Pvt. Mastermichael Ramsey of Milwaukee, on the night Paytas was killed, but the Army dropped that charge without explanation.

Paytas was from Freedom, Pa.