‘The Kill Team’ set to premiere on Independent Lens Jan. 19 on PBS
“The Kill Team” goes behind closed doors to tell the harrowing story of Specialist Adam Winfield, a 21-year-old infantryman in Afghanistan who – with the help of his father – attempted to alert the military to heinous war crimes being committed by his platoon.
Tragically, his father’s pleas for help went unheeded. Once Winfield’s fellow soldiers got wind of what he’d done, they threatened to silence him – permanently.
Forced to choose between his conscience and his own survival, Winfield found himself drawn into a moral abyss, faced with a split-second decision that would change his life forever. With extraordinary access to the key individuals involved in the case including Winfield, his parents, and his startlingly forthright compatriots, “The Kill Team” is an intimate look at the personal stories so often lost inside the larger coverage of the longest war in U.S. history.
The winner of the Best Documentary Feature award at the Tribeca Film Festival and directed by Oscar-nominated filmmaker Dan Krauss, “The Kill Team” premieres on Independent Lens this Monday, Jan. 19, from 10-11:30 p.m., on PBS (check local listings) .
The film weaves together two parallel storylines, past and present, chronicling Winfield’s unfolding legal story along with recounting of the horrors that took place in Afghanistan.
Speaking with an astonishing degree of candor and articulateness, Winfield and his fellow soldiers describe a series of increasingly weighty psychological quagmires, each emblemizing the hazy morality of war, where the choices are often clear, but the best decisions seldom are.
Visit “The Kill Team” companion website (www.pbs.org/independent-lens/kill-team/) which features information about the film, including an interview with the filmmaker, preview clips, and more. The site also features a Talkback section for viewers to share their ideas and opinions
About the participants
Specialist Adam Winfield is from Cape Coral, and was 20 years old at the time of the crimes. He joined the Army at 17 and deployed with his unit to Afghanistan in July 2009. After the May 2010 murder of Afghan civilian Mullah Allah Dad, Winfield was charged with premeditated murder, conspiracy and use of a controlled substance (hashish). He accepted a plea deal carrying a charge of involuntary manslaughter for failing to stop his fellow soldiers from murdering Allah Dad. The deal provided a sentencing cap of eight years, but the judge sentenced him to three years and a bad conduct discharge.
Corporal Jeremy Morlock is from Wasilla, Alaska, and was 21 years old at the time of the crimes. Having been charged with the premeditated murders of three non-combatants, he is considered one of the primary participants in “The Kill Team.” Under the terms of a plea agreement, Morlock’s life sentence was reduced to 24 years and a dishonorable discharge in exchange for his cooperation in the courts-martial of other soldiers.
Private First Class Andrew Holmes is from Boise, Idaho, and was 19 years old at the time of the crimes. Holmes worked directly under the leadership of CPL Morlock and pled to a charge of murder without premeditation; a military judge sentenced Holmes to 15 years and a dishonorable discharge but the plea deal capped Holmes’ sentence at seven.
Private First Class Justin Stoner is from Lebanon, Pa. Stoner was not charged with any crimes and is widely credited as being the whistle-blower in the Kill Team case, though Stoner disavows that characterization. Members of the platoon assaulted Stoner after he reported hashish use in the platoon to a superior. In the course of investigating that assault, officers learned that Staff Sgt. Gibbs had shown Stoner human fingers to intimidate him. That revelation ultimately led investigators to the murders.
Christopher Winfield is Adam Winfield’s father and lives in Cape Coral. In February 2010, his son informed him via online chat about the murders in Afghanistan and the threats he had received from members of his platoon. Together, they decided to anonymously alert the military. The online chat between Chris and his son became key evidence in the court-martial of SPC Winfield.