[JURIST] AP is reporting that a US soldier has pleaded guilty to killing a severely wounded Iraqi civilian, according to military sources.

8:07 AM ET - Staff Sgt. Johnny M. Horne Jr., 30, of Winston-Salem, N.C., was charged with murdering the Iraqi August 18 during fighting in Baghdad's Sadr City. He and other soldiers claimed that after they had attempted to save the injured man from a burning truck they decided that the best course of action was simply to "put him out of his misery." Horne is expected to be sentenced later today. A second officer, Second Lt. Erick J. Anderson, has also been charged with premeditated murder in connection with the same incident (see this previous report in JURIST's Paper Chase).

Friday's proceeding is but the latest in a series of investigations and hearings arising out of US killings of wounded Iraqis. Sgt. Michael P. Williams, 25, of Memphis, Tenn., has been charged with murder related to a separate August incident, also in Sadr City; he faced an Article 32 hearing Thursday. AP has more. On Tuesday this week, the US Army said that it would convene a court-martial for Captain Rogelio Maynulet, accused of murdering an Iraqi driver who had been injured by US soldiers during a militia sweep in May. JURIST's Paper Chase has more. The US military is also investigating the case of a US Marine videotaped by a news camera crew in November shooting a wounded, unarmed Iraqi prisoner in a Fallujah mosque who was said to be pretending to be dead. JURIST's Paper Chase has more.