FORT STEWART, Ga. — A former U.S. Army sergeant has admitted to stabbing a fellow soldier to death in retaliation for reporting another man for using drugs at Fort Stewart.
Records show that Byron Booker, 29, pleaded guilty to the premeditated murder of a member of the U.S. uniformed services. Another soldier is also facing charges in the case.
Prosecutors with the Department of Justice said Booker admitted he and another soldier discussed "silencing" U.S. Army Specialist Austin Hawk at Fort Stewart Military Reservation. Booker said it was in retaliation to the 21-year-old reporting the other soldier to Army leadership for marijuana use, the DOJ said.
To silence the Hawk, the Army sergeant went into his barracks room after midnight on June 17, 2020, and "slashed and stabbed Hawk repeatedly," according to the U.S. Attorney's Office of the Southern District of Georgia. A medical examiner noted Hawk received 40 separate stab or slash wounds, according to prosecutors.
Hawk's body was found in his barracks room the next day.
“Byron Booker murdered a former fellow soldier in cold blood in retaliation for that soldier performing his duties as a service member,” U.S. Attorney David Estes, a retired U.S. Army Colonel, said in a news release.
Due to his plea agreement, Booker now faces a mandatory minimum sentence of life in prison. There is no parole in the federal system.
“Hawk’s family and friends will never be rid of the pain this senseless murder has caused them, but hopefully it gives them some sense of resolve to know that justice will be served," Keri Farley, Special Agent in Charge of FBI Atlanta, said in a prepared statement.
