William Laws Calley Jr (born June 8, 1943) is an American war criminal and a former United States Army officer convicted by court-martial of murdering 22 unarmed South Vietnamese civilians in the My Lai Massacre on March 16, 1968, during the Vietnam War. Calley was released to house arrest under orders by President Richard Nixon, three days after his conviction. Following a petition for habeas corpus by Calley, a new trial was ordered by the 5th Circuit Federal court in Georgia. That ruling however was overturned on an appeal and the Supreme Court denied certiorari. His initial conviction faced widespread public opposition, both due to the campaign circumstances of civilian embedded Viet Cong and also due to Calley being singled out as the sole officer convicted with respect to the massacre.