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The War Profiteers - War Crimes,
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October 26th, 2006 - Marine Pleads
Guilty to Assault in Shooting of Iraqi Civilian News article by the Associated Press |
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Marine Pleads Guilty to
Assault in Shooting of Iraqi Civilian Thomas Watkins Associated Press October 26, 2006 Camo Pendleton, Calif. - A
Marine pleaded guilty Thursday to charges of assault and conspiracy to obstruct
justice in the death of an Iraqi civilian last April. Pfc. John J. Jodka III, 20,
entered the pleas through his lawyer Joseph Casas and then began testifying. He was one of seven Marines
and a Navy corpsman initially charged with murder, kidnapping, conspiracy,
assault and housebreaking in the killing of 52-year-old Hashim Ibrahim Awad
in the Iraqi town of Hamdania. Jodka - the squad's youngest
and lowest-ranked member - spoke quickly as he described the night of Awad's
killing. He said the squad agreed to
a plan by squad leader Sgt. Lawrence G. Hutchins to kidnap and kill a known
insurgent. Jodka said he fired his weapon at the victim, but he said he
thought the man was the insurgent they had been looking for. Jodka said they talked about
what had happened on a roof back at their base. "Once on the roof, Sgt.
Hutchins gathered members of the squad and he said if anyone asks what
happened, the words he used were, 'You know what to say.' I took that to mean
if anyone asked, we would say that we had seen this man approach with a
shovel and begin digging and that he engaged us and that we had lawfully
engaged him," Jodka said. The Navy corpsman charged in
the case, Petty Officer 3rd Class Melson J. Bacos from Franklin, Wis.,
pleaded guilty earlier this month to kidnapping and conspiracy and also
testified. At his court-martial, Bacos
testified that he and the Marines were searching for a known insurgent who
had been captured three times and released. The group approached a house
where the insurgent was believed to be hiding, but when someone inside woke
up, the Marines instead went to another home and grabbed Awad, Bacos said. The squad took Awad to a
roadside hole and shot him before planting a shovel and AK-47 to make it
appear he was an insurgent planting a bomb, he said. Bacos was sentenced to a
year's confinement; murder and other charges were dropped. Former Army prosecutor Tom
Umberg said other Marines in the case might follow Bacos' and Jodka's lead
and negotiate pleas. "As the government's
evidence gets stronger, the defendants start to look around," Umberg
said. But he acknowledged that
deciding to make a deal would be difficult. "You are trained from
day one to support your buddy, and also taught that there are certain values
as a soldier or Marine you are fighting to uphold," he said. "The
resolution for a young man can be heart-wrenching." Five other Marines face
courts-martial. A decision has not yet been announced on whether Hutchins
will be referred to a court-martial. Jodka's grandfather Joe
Snodgrass, 71, said his grandson had paid for any wrongdoing. Jodka had been
locked in the brig since May and his flak jacket had come back peppered with
bullet holes from when he had been shot at on patrol. "He was trained to
follow his leaders and do as they commanded without questioning,"
Snodgrass said. "He was trying to be the best Marine possible." © 2006 AP Wire and wire
service sources. All Rights Reserved. External link:
http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/news/world/15855761.htm Jodka Describes Killing
Iraqi Citizen by Marines By David Hasemyer & Rick Rogers San Diego Union-Tribune 12:09 p.m. October 26, 2006 Camp Pendleton – An Encinitas
Marine testified Thursday that he helped kill an Iraqi civilian last spring
in Hamdaniya, Iraq. During his court-martial at
Camp Pendleton, Pfc. John Jodka IIIsaid he was one of five Marines who shot
at what he thought was an insurgent while the other three members of his unit
looked on. In reality, the victim was
Hashim Ibrahim Awad, a 52-year-old civilian whom the squad abducted after not
finding their targeted man. The unit's members had placed him in a roadside
hole, Jodka recounted, all part of an effort to make it look like they were
defending themselves against an insurgent who started a firefight while
planting a bomb. “I couldn't see the man in
the hole at the time we were firing, sir,” Jodka told the judge, Lt. Col.
David Cole. “I only saw him stand up and run down the road to the north.” Awad staggered a few feet
before falling dead, Jodka said. He ended up with at least 13 rounds of
bullets in his head and chest, according to documents filed by prosecutors. His body was taken to an Iraqi
police station. Jodka said the unit's members talked about what had happened
on a roof back at their base. He testified: “Once on the
roof, (our leader) gathered members of the squad and he said if anyone asks
what happened, the words he used were, 'You know what to say.' I took that to
mean if anyone asked, we would say that we had seen this man approach with a
shovel and begin digging and that he engaged us and that we had lawfully
engaged him.” Hours before the April 26
killing, Jodka said, his unit's leader, Sgt. Lawrence Hutchins III, sat under
a palm grove with other Marines and hatched a plot to kill an insurgent who
had been released three times from jail. It was a well-orchestrated
plan that each person in the squad – including Jodka, its youngest and least
experience member – agreed to carry out, he said rapidly during questioning
from Cole. The chilling details were
part of Jodka's plea bargain, which requires him to testify against his
co-defendants in exchange for a lighter sentence. Besides clenching his fists,
Jodka showed no emotion while he was arraigned on charges of aggravated
assault and obstruction of justice. His parents and grandparents sat behind
him. Jodka faces a maximum
sentence of 15 years in prison and a dishonorable discharge at his sentencing
hearing on Nov. 15. He could have qualified for life imprisonment if found
guilty on more serious charges such as murder and kidnapping. Jodka formalized his plea
deal at a hearing Thursday in Camp Pendleton. Prosecutors had said before
Thursday's hearing that they would not seek the death penalty against him. Jodka and the other seven
defendants have been confined since early May, and charges were brought
against them in June. Through their lawyers and parents, the eight men professed
innocence and declared their determination to prove it through
courts-martial. But on Oct. 6, Petty Officer
3rd Class Melson Bacos agreed to testify against the other defendants in
exchange for a lighter sentence. During a one-day trial to formalize his plea
bargain, Bacos also identified Hutchins as the mastermind of the execution
plot. In exchange for his plea,
the prosecution is expected to drop all other charges against Bacos,
including murder, kidnapping and conspiracy, his attorney, Joseph Casas has
said. Bacos told authorities that
the servicemen agreed to enter Hamdaniya to find suspected terrorist Saleh
Gowad, who had been arrested by Iraqi authorities but was released three
times before. Since they did not find
Gowad, Bacos said the group then went next door and abducted Awad instead. Besides Bacos and Jodka, the
other defendants are awaiting courts-martial slated to begin early next year.
At least two of them are said to be negotiating plea agreements. The Naval
Criminal Investigative Service started investigating the servicemen in early
May after Iraqis reported Awad's death to Marine officials during a regularly
scheduled meeting. Pendleton plea deals spur legal concerns/Experts fear truth could stay
in Iraq The latest plea deal in the
Hamdaniya murder case, and the prospect of more to come, has some military
court experts questioning whether legal expediency will keep the truth from
the public and justice from being served. During his trial this
morning, Pfc. John Jodka III of Encinitas is expected to plead guilty to
assault and obstruction of justice as part of a plea agreement. Jodka is one of eight Camp
Pendleton service members charged with abducting and fatally shooting Hashim
Ibrahim Awad on April 26 in Hamdaniya, Iraq. One defendant, Petty Officer 3rd
Class Melson Bacos, pleaded guilty to lesser charges in his own plea deal
Oct. 6. Negotiations for additional
plea agreements are taking place, said parents of two more suspects and
lawyers involved in the case. The deal-making worries
legal analysts like Gary Solis, a former San Diegan and Marine lawyer who
teaches the ethics of war at Georgetown University and West Point. He
cautions that cutting too many plea agreements can cut justice as well. “If they give a third or a
fourth guy a deal, why would they even bother with going to trial?” Solis
asked. The government “has a duty
to extract justice from this situation,” he said, by proceeding to
court-martial and trying for the stiffest punishment possible. Just weeks ago, the prospect
of plea agreements seemed remote. Bacos, Jodka and the rest of the Hamdaniya
suspects proclaimed innocence and resolved to fight the charges together. The unity lasted until the
prosecution announced its evidence during pretrial sessions known as Article
32 hearings. Prosecutors appear to have plenty of evidence against the
defendants, Solis observed. That encompasses dozens of statements from
witnesses in Iraq and agents with the Naval Criminal Investigative Service.
It also includes alleged confessions from some of the suspects. But early on, defense
attorneys agreed with prosecutors to limit their comments in open court. They
largely submitted evidence to the investigating officers, who act as judges
during the pretrial phase, without reading the documents aloud. Their
official reasoning was that publicizing such information might taint the jury
pool. The result is that the
public has learned fewer details of the case than it should, Solis and other
legal analysts said. Plea deals might further this trend of suppressing
information by significantly shortening the duration of each trial and thus
restricting the amount of testimony given in open court. Eugene Fidell, president of
the National Institute of Military Justice in Washington, D.C., faults the
media for allowing defense attorneys and Marine prosecutors to withhold
information. “It was a Marcel Marceau
Article 32 (process) because it was done in pantomime,” Fidell said. “It was
an end run around the public's right to know what was going on, and the media
let it happen.” Plea agreements eliminate
the uncertainties inherent in a jury trial, Solis said. In the Hamdaniya
case, he said, they might also allow the military to limit testimony alleging
that failed Marine Corps leadership and training have led to moral lapses in
the combat zone. “Guilty pleas minimize
Marine Corps exposure to public criticism,” Solis said. Jack Zimmermann, a Houston
attorney and chairman of the National Association of Criminal Defense
Lawyers' military law committee, said he thinks most details of the Hamdaniya
case will emerge eventually. Some revelations could come
during the so-called extenuation and mitigation phase, which he said might be
the most interesting part of a court-martial. The process takes place after a
defendant's guilt has been officially determined. It requires the defendant
to justify why a certain sentence is merited by testifying about his or her
role in the crime. “I don't see an ethical
defense lawyer not putting on evidence, regardless of whether it is
embarrassing to the (military) service or not, to help his client,”
Zimmermann said. 1st
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