MIAMI-DADE
South Florida soldier who refused deployment sentenced to jail for 30 days
A soldier from Miami-Dade was sentenced to 30 days in jail and will be demoted after he pleaded guilty to refusing deployment to Afghanistan.
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•Soldier who refused deployment gets month in jail
Soldier who refused deployment gets month in jail
A Fort Hood soldier who refused to deploy to Afghanistan over his beliefs that the war violates international law was sentenced Wednesday to a month in jail.

Spc. Victor Agosto, 24, of Miami, pleaded guilty to disobeying a lawful order to report to a site that performs medical, legal and other services for troops before they deploy. The judge also reduced his rank to the Army's lowest level, a private, which also was part of the maximum penalty he faced in his plea agreement with the military.

After the sentence was announced, Agosto immediately ripped the rank patch from his uniform. He later was escorted out of the building and taken to the county jail, where he will start serving his sentence.

•Miami soldier gets 30 days for refusing to go to Afghanistan
Miami soldier gets 30 days for refusing to go to Afghanistan
A 24-year-old Miami soldier in Fort Hood has been sentenced to 30 days in jail for refusing to deploy to Afghanistan beyond his enlistment date.

Spc. Victor Agosto, of Miami, was sentenced after entering a guilty plea during an hour long military-court hearing Wednesday at the Central Texas Army post. It was the maximum penalty specified under his plea agreement under his military prosecutors.

The judge also reduced his rank to private, the lowest rank in the Army hierarchy.

•Soldier gets month in jail for refusing deployment
Soldier gets month in jail for refusing deployment
A Fort Hood soldier was sentenced Wednesday to a month in jail for refusing to deploy to Afghanistan over his beliefs that the war violates international law.

Spc. Victor Agosto, 24, of Miami, pleaded guilty to disobeying lawful orders and was sentenced at the central Texas Army post. The judge also reduced his rank to the Army's lowest level, a private, which also was part of the maximum penalty he faced in his plea agreement with the military.

Also, Agosto cannot be discharged at a level lower than other-than-honorable conditions, an administrative discharge. A discharge was not mentioned in the hearing, but Agosto is expected to be released from the Army after completing his jail term.

•VA works to prevent veterans from repeating crimes
VA works to prevent veterans from repeating crimes
Bracing for an influx of soldiers returning from Iraq and Afghanistan, the Department of Veterans Affairs has launched an ambitious effort to locate veterans who've had minor brushes with the law and offer them treatment to try to prevent repeat crimes.

The VA started its Veterans Justice Outreach Program early this year - before public attention intensified on a handful of Fort Carson, Colo.-based soldiers accused of murder, attempted murder or manslaughter after returning from a deployment where they faced intense combat. Most of the soldiers had been arrested for domestic violence, assault, illegal gun possession, and alcohol and drug charges before the slayings.

A July 15 Army report said more study is needed to link the soldiers' alleged crimes with their heavy combat duty and lengthy deployments in Iraq.

•US troops killed in Iraq and Kuwait
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Army Spc. Herberth A. Berrios-Campos

Herberth Berrios-Campos was an energetic and determined soldier before he even formally joined the military.

"He told me that he was going to join the program and be my highest-ranked cadet, and he was a man of his word, because that next term, he joined up and he stayed," said Warren Fountain, who was Berrios-Campos' JROTC instructor in high school.
BY MIKE CLARY
Sun Sentinel
A 24-year-old Iraq War veteran described by family members in Miami as quiet, studious and a one-time chess champion was sentenced Wednesday to 30 days in jail for refusing to deploy to Afghanistan after the Army extended his enlistment.

Spc. Victor Agosto entered a guilty plea during an hourlong military court hearing at Fort Hood, Texas. The penalty was the maximum specified under a plea agreement with military prosecutors. The judge also reduced Agosto's rank to private.

Before being sentenced, Agosto told the judge he believes the war violates international law.

``I agree with his decision. The whole family agrees,'' said his sister, Nubia Rodriguez, 30, of North Miami. ``It is not fair for him. He signed up for four years.''

`PRETTY LIBERATING'

Agosto refused deployment to Afghanistan a few months ago after learning that the Army was keeping him beyond his enlistment date, a policy of involuntary extension known as ``stop-loss.''

``This whole experience has been pretty liberating,'' Agosto said in a telephone interview with the Associated Press.

Attorney James Branum said Agosto probably would serve his time in a county detention center in Belton, Texas, and then be returned to his unit at Fort Hood before receiving an other-than-honorable discharge. His sister said she would like him to come home when he is released.

``He is not sorry,'' said Branum, a co-chairman of the Military Law Task Force. ``He believes he did the right thing.''

POSES NO THREAT

Before Agosto was sentenced during the hourlong military hearing, he told the judge he should not be jailed because he posed no threat to anyone.

He said he had remained on post and went to work every day since refusing to deploy. He said he did not use drugs or go absent without leave, as other soldiers have done to avoid deployment.

In a statement Agosto said: ``I have learned that nothing is more frightening to power than a direct and principled challenge to its authority. The truth is on our side, and those who have incarcerated me know it.

``My only apologies are to the people of Iraq and Afghanistan. I hope that someday they can forgive me for my contributions to their distress.''

Branum, his attorney, said he expected about 50 people to attend a protest Wednesday night at Fort Hood.

OPPOSES IRAQ WAR

In interviews, Agosto said he does not oppose all wars but came to oppose the one in Iraq after returning from a 13-month deployment in late 2007.

He worked on computers and did not see combat.

Upon returning to Fort Hood, a post about 150 miles southwest of Fort Worth, Agosto became involved in the peace community.

Rodriguez said her brother entered Miami Dade College after his junior year at Miami Jackson Senior High School, and became a member of a chess team that in 2004 earned the school the Chess College of the Year award from the U.S. Chess Federation.

``I was surprised when he enlisted,'' said Rodriguez, an office administrator. ``We wanted him to be a doctor, or to study computer science. Then one day he said he was going into the Army. We just learned two weeks ago that he was going to jail.''

Sun Sentinel researcher Barbara Hijek and the Associated Press contributed to this report.