Gibbs’s civilian defense attorney, Phillip Stackhouse, did not return phone messages seeking comment. He has previously told reporters that the killings Gibbs has been charged with were combat-related and therefore justified. Attorneys for the other accused soldiers have also denied wrongdoing…

One soldier told investigators that Gibbs bartered with Afghan security forces, trying to “trade porn in exchange for AK-47s, RPG rounds [and] mortars.” Others reported that he kept Russian grenades and AK-47 ammunition in a storage bin inside the unit’s Stryker vehicle, an eight-wheeled infantry carrier, in case they needed false evidence to plant.

A non-commissioned officer from a different 5th Stryker Brigade unit told agents he received a box from Gibbs in March. It contained a grenade and a dirty green sock. The officer said in a statement that he kept the grenade but threw away the sock, not bothering to check inside. Gibbs later told him that the sock held a severed finger, according to his statement.

After the final killing on May 2, two soldiers told agents that Gibbs removed a tooth from the corpse and sliced off a finger. In a statement, Quintal said that he told Gibbs “he was a savage” and that Gibbs “got really mad” in response.