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The War Profiteers - War Crimes,
Kidnappings, Torture and Big Money |
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October 19th, 2006 - 3 More
Marines Face Trial in Slaying of Iraqi Civilian |
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3 More Marines Face Trial in
Slaying of Iraqi Civilian By Rick Rogers San Diego Union-Tribune October 19, 2006 Three more Camp Pendleton
Marines learned yesterday that they will face trial on charges of killing an
Iraqi man in April, charges that could send them to prison for the rest of
their lives. Cpl. Trent Thomas and Lance
Cpls. Tyler Jackson and Robert B. Pennington will undergo courts-martial
sometime next year in the death of Hashim Ibrahim Awad, who was shot April 26
in his village of Hamdaniya. They had asked to waive
their rights to a preliminary hearing and proceed to trial. Jackson and Pennington are
charged with murder, conspiracy, house breaking, larceny and kidnapping.
Thomas faces those charges plus one for allegedly making a false statement.
He also is charged with assault in an unrelated incident on Aug. 10. The court-martial referral
and selection of charges were made by Lt. Gen. James Mattis, commanding
general of the 1st Marine Expeditionary Force based at Camp Pendleton. The only suspect still
awaiting a court-martial decision is Sgt. Lawrence Hutchins, the alleged
ringleader. Court analysts expect him to be tried, considering that he was
the senior-ranking Marine present during Awad's death. Hutchins, Thomas, Jackson
and Pennington are among seven Marines accused in the case. The others are
Pfc. John J. Jodka III, Cpl. Marshall L. Magincalda and Lance Cpl. Jerry E.
Shumate Jr. All are assigned to the Kilo Company, 3rd Battalion, 5th
Regiment. Another member of the unit,
Petty Officer 3rd Class Melson Bacos, was also charged with murder and
related crimes. But most of the charges were reduced or dismissed when Bacos,
a 21-year-old corpsman, cut a deal with prosecutors to testify against his
co-defendants in exchange for a lighter sentence. During his Oct. 6 trial,
Bacos recounted how the unit's members agreed to kidnap a Hamdaniya resident
and make it appear that they killed him as he was planting a roadside bomb.
Bacos said the scheme entailed planting evidence on the body and calling in
false radio reports to Marine superiors. Victor Kelley, the civilian
attorney for Thomas, said yesterday's court-martial announcement didn't
surprise him. “Obviously, there is a low
threshold for charging someone but a very high threshold for conviction,”
said Kelley, who heads the National Military Justice Group in Birmingham,
Ala. “This is far too early to panic.” Pennington's civilian
attorney, David Brahms, said the Marine Corps partly realized the error of
its ways in dropping two initial charges against his client – assault and
impeding an investigation. “I'm not going to thank them
for doing the right thing,” Brahms said. “But everyone knows the central
focus of this case, which is of course the murder charge.” External link:
http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/military/20061019-9999-7m19hamda.html |