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November 21st,
2006 - Wash. Marine Sentenced to 21 Months in Prison in Iraqi Death Case News article by the Associated Press |
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Wash. Marine Sentenced to 21
Months in Prison in Iraqi Death Case By Thomas Watkins Associated Press Writer Nov 21, 2006 9:44 PM EST Camp Pendleton, Calif. - A
Marine was sentenced to 21 months in prison Tuesday after pleading guilty to
lesser charges in his squad's suspected killing of an unarmed Iraqi civilian
whose body was left with an AK-47 and a shovel to make him look like an
insurgent. Lance Cpl. Jerry E. Shumate
Jr., of Matlock, Wash., entered his pleas to aggravated assault and
conspiracy to obstruct justice through his civilian attorney, Steve Immel,
during court-martial proceedings. In return for his guilty
pleas, the government dismissed other charges against Shumate, including
murder, kidnapping, assault and conspiracy. Shumate, 21, was part of a
squad of seven Marines and a sailor who were charged with kidnapping
52-year-old Hashim Ibrahim Awad in the rural Iraqi town of Hamdania, dragging
him to a roadside hole, shooting him and then trying to cover it up. Shumate was the fourth squad
member to accept a plea to lesser charges in exchange for his testimony. Four
senior squad members still face kidnapping and murder charges. Testifying in a loud but
sometimes halting voice, Shumate recalled that the squad was on a nighttime
patrol seeking insurgents planting bombs on April 26. All eight of the men agreed
to a plan to kill a known insurgent, and four left to kidnap him, Shumate
said. When they returned with a
prisoner, Shumate said he was "told to fire" by squad leader Sgt.
Lawrence Hutchins III and thought he was shooting at the insurgent. He
learned only later that it was Awad, whom prosecutors have described as a
disabled father of 11. Hutchins' attorney, Rich
Brannon, has said he does not believe his client did anything wrong. Shumate had faced up to 15
years in prison. Two other Marines and a Navy
corpsman earlier pleaded guilty to lesser charges. The longest any of the
three was ordered to serve was 21 months. Military judge Lt. Col.
Jeffrey Meeks initially sentenced Shumate to eight years in prison and
ordered a dishonorable discharge. But Shumate was protected by
the plea agreement and the sentence was reduced. His jail time includes six
months already served and he will likely be given a general discharge. Shumate testified that he
did not know if any of the 10-20 bullets from his M16 machine gun hit the
victim. "I still had the intent
to kill the man," Shumate told the military judge, conceding it was
illegal to kill the prisoner even if he had been an insurgent. During questioning by his
defense attorney, Shumate said he felt sorry for the family and friends of
Awad. Immel suggested his client
took part in the killing because he had been led astray by more senior
Marines. "Squad leaders normally
excel when asked to do the right thing," Immel said. "In this
squad, that was not the case." Another Marine in the case,
Lance Cpl. Robert Pennington, of Mukilteo, Wash., appeared in court Tuesday
and asked to be released from the brig while he awaits trial. The judge gave
no indication when he would rule on that motion. © 2006 The Associated Press.
All rights reserved. External link:
http://www.columbian.com/news/APStories/AP11222006news78598.cfm Shumate
sentenced to 21 months in Hamdania killing By Mark Walker North County Times November 21, 2006 Camp
Pendleton - A Marine lance corporal willingly participated in the kidnapping
and shooting death of an Iraqi civilian and should spend 10 years behind
bars, a military prosecutor charged Tuesday. The
prosecutor, Capt. Nicholas Gannon, said that Lance Cpl. Jerry E. Shumate Jr.,
could have stopped the April 26 slaying of Hashim Ibrahim Awad but failed to
act. "Instead,
he agreed to do the wrong thing and snuff out a human life," Gannon
said. Rather
than the 10-year sentence that Gannon sought, an agreement in which Shumate
pleaded guilty to aggravated assault and conspiracy to obstruct justice
resulted in a 21-month term with credit for six months already served. Original
charges of murder, kidnapping, conspiracy and related offenses were
dismissed, and Shumate will be given a general discharge from the service
when his sentence, to be served at Miramar Marine Corps Air Station, is
completed. The
21-year-old native of the tiny western Washington state town of Matlock
apologized for his actions, saying the squad was targeting an insurgent named
Saleh Gowad - whom the troops referred to as "the prince of Anbar"
- that night in the village of Hamdania. He
testified he did not know the slain man was someone other that Gowad until
after he and three of his squad mates fired on Awad, who had been dragged
from his home, bound and gagged and placed in a roadside hole. "I
feel sorry for his friends and family," Shumate said. He
said the squad from the 2nd platoon of Kilo Company from Camp Pendleton's 3rd
Battalion, 5th Marine Regiment was acting under the orders of Sgt. Lawrence
Hutchins III. "I
was told by Sgt. Hutchins to fire," said Shumate, who fired between 10
and 20 rounds at the retired Iraqi policeman and father of 11. Gannon
said that Awad's death was preventable because the plot allegedly laid out by
Hutchins would have been stopped if just one of the seven Marines and Navy
corpsman in the squad had voiced opposition. Shumate failed to take that
opportunity, he said. "The
court should be outraged," Gannon said. "He was raised better than
that, he was trained better than that by our Corps but he departed from the
standards of our Corps." Shumate
testified in his unsworn statement - meaning he could not be cross-examined -
that he knew what the squad planned and did that night was illegal, even if
the man that was seized had been the suspected insurgent. Awad was seized
from his home after Gowad could not be found. "I
knew it was illegal, sir," Shumate told the military judge, Lt. Col.
Jeffrey Meeks, who originally sentenced Shumate to eight years and a
dishonorable discharge following final arguments from the attorneys. That
term was set aside, however, because of Shumate's plea agreement with the
convening authority over the case, Lt. Gen. James Mattis, head of the I
Marine Expeditionary Force. Shumate's
attorney blamed the killing on the men who led the platoon. "It
was a failure of small unit leadership," Steven Immel said, adding that
even though Shumate knew that killing the suspected insurgent would have
violated the rules of engagement, the squad believed that taking out Gowad
would have been justified. Four defendants remain Shumate
was on his first tour in Iraq when Awad was killed and was one of the least experienced
members of the squad. After the shooting, Hutchins reported he and his men
had killed an insurgent who was spotted planting a roadside bomb and had
fired upon them. The
Camp Pendleton-based men placed a stolen AK-47 rifle and shovel next to Awad's
body to support the false report that he was an insurgent. An
April 10 assault charge against Shumate for his role in the beating of an
Iraqi also was dismissed. Hutchins is also charged in that incident, as is
platoon 2nd Lt. Nathan Phan. Hutchins,
who is maintaining his innocence, is slated for trial early next year. His
attorney, Rich Brannon, has said he wants to know what his client's superiors
had instructed him to do the night that Awad was killed. Shumate
joins two other Marines who have pleaded guilty in the Awad case, Lance Cpl.
Tyler Jackson and Pfc. John Jodka III. They also pleaded guilty to aggravated
assault and conspiracy to obstruct justice and were sentenced to 21 months
and 18 months, respectively. The
squad's medical corpsman, Petty Officer Melson Bacos, pleaded guilty to
kidnapping and conspiracy to kidnap and make false official statements and
was sentenced to 12 months in the brig. Bacos was the first man to tell
authorities what happened and was the first to strike a plea agreement. Besides
Hutchins, the remaining defendants in Awad's killing are Lance Cpl. Robert
Pennington and Cpls. Marshall Magincalda and Trent Thomas. Pennington hearing wraps up As
the Shumate hearing was under way, a two-day hearing for Pennington that
started Monday morning was wrapping up. Pennington's
attorneys argued during the hearing to suppress a statement he made to
investigators in Iraq and argued to have him released from the brig pending
trial. On
Monday, Pennington testified that he asked for but was not provided with an
attorney when questioned by Naval Criminal Investigative Service agents at
Camp Fallujah in Iraq in May. Two
NCIS agents contradicted Pennington's testimony, however, when they testified
Monday, saying the native of the town of Mukilteo, Wash., never asked for an
attorney and voluntarily made implicating statements. It also was revealed in
court Tuesday that Pennington had previously been court-martialed and
therefore had experience with the military justice system. The nature of the
previous court-martial was not disclosed. Following
his hearing, Pennington's parents and attorney appeared before reporters with
his mother, Deanna, saying they continue to believe in their son's innocence. "He's
going to get his day," she said. "He's going to tell his story so
people are going to understand there's not just one side to this." Lt.
Col. Eugene Robinson, the military judge presiding over Pennington's case,
did not rule Tuesday on the motion to suppress his statement or whether he
should be released from the brig pending trial. External link: http://www.nctimes.com/articles/2006/11/22/news/top_stories/1_01_5911_21_06.txt |