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The War Profiteers - War Crimes,
Kidnappings, Torture and Big Money |
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March 2nd,
2007 - Marine Faces Murder Charges Again News article by the Associated Press |
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Marine Faces Murder Charges Again After withdrawing guilty plea in killing of Iraqi, prosecutors refile By Thomas Watkins Associated Press March 2, 2007 Camp Pendleton - A Marine
was arraigned a second time Thursday on charges of kidnapping and murdering
an Iraqi civilian after he withdrew a guilty plea last month that had been
part of a pretrial agreement. Cpl. Trent Thomas, 25, was
in a squad of seven Marines and a Navy corpsman accused last year of killing
an Iraqi after they were unable to find an insurgent suspected of planting
bombs. He was the first to plead
guilty to murder, followed by five others who made pretrial agreements and
pleaded guilty to lesser charges. Squad members have testified
that Hashim Ibrahim Awad was forced into a hole and shot, and that the squad
placed an AK-47 and shovel by his body to make it look as if he were an
insurgent planting a bomb. Even though Thomas gave a
detailed account of the killing and said that he fired several rounds at Awad
in Hamdania, he told a military judge he was not guilty because he had
followed what he believed to be a lawful order. The corporal blamed the
attack on the squad's leader, Sgt. Lawrence Hutchins. Thomas said his
sergeant ordered the squad to carry out the killing, and Thomas thought he
was acting under the "color of law." "I believe I had
justification," Thomas said at the time. Hutchins, of Plymouth,
Mass., is awaiting trial on murder and other charges. Prosecutors refiled charges
against Thomas that now include premeditation, an element that had been
removed as part of Thomas's pretrial agreement. Thomas, the squad's second
in command from Madison, Ill., did not enter a plea at the arraignment. He
could face life in prison. The five others who made
deals were sentenced to between one and eight years in prison. External link: http://www.contracostatimes.com/mld/cctimes/news/nation/16817762.htm Marine says he feared
sergeant Serviceman pulled plea in Iraqi's death By Bruce Lieberman San Diego Union-Tribune March 2, 2007 Camp Pendleton – Marine Cpl.
Trent D. Thomas told an investigator in May that he would confess to helping
kidnap and kill an Iraqi man if military officials protected him from the
alleged mastermind of the crime, the investigator testified yesterday. “He said he would tell us
what really happened that night, but that we had to protect him from Sgt.
(Lawrence) Hutchins, because Sgt. Hutchins was a nut,” said Stanley L.
Garland, a special agent with the Naval Criminal Investigative Service. Thomas is one of eight Camp
Pendleton servicemen accused of abducting Hashim Ibrahim Awad in the town of
Hamdaniya, executing him April 26 and then lying that Awad started a
firefight against them after being discovered planting a roadside bomb. Five defendants have pleaded
guilty to various charges as part of their plea agreements and were given
sentences of less than a year to eight years in prison. All of them have
identified Hutchins, who is awaiting trial, as the ringleader behind Awad's
death. Besides Thomas, Navy
Hospital Corpsman Melson J. Bacos also sought protection from Hutchins in
exchange for a confession, Garland said. He added that no deal was struck for
either defendant. Garland's testimony provided
the latest twist in Thomas' unusual case. In January, Thomas pleaded
guilty to unpremeditated murder and other charges as part of his plea
agreement. But during his sentencing hearing last month, Thomas stunned the
judge by withdrawing his guilty plea. The reversal led to
yesterday's arraignment on mostly the same charges, except for a more serious
count of premeditated murder. Thomas reserved his right to enter a plea
later. Defense attorneys asked the
court to allow Thomas to backtrack in the judicial process and undergo a
pretrial session known as an Article 32 hearing. Thomas had waived his right
to such a hearing months ago, but his attorneys said so much has changed in
the case since then. An Article 32 hearing, akin
to a grand-jury proceeding, is used to help the Marine Corps determine
whether a suspect should go to trial. The session would allow defense lawyers
to introduce recently acquired evidence such as the testimony of Thomas'
fellow defendants. It also would permit them to
cross-examine defendants who have pleaded guilty in the case, to “look for
motives of bias,” said Maj. Dale Saran, an attorney for Thomas. Yesterday, the defense team
also sought to suppress self-incriminating statements Thomas gave to
investigators. In those statements, he described what happened on the night
of Awad's death. Thomas gave the confession
to Garland and several other investigators during a May 16 interrogation in
Iraq. “He admitted to being part
of a snatch team and conspiracy to kidnap and kill” Awad, said James
Connolly, who helped question Thomas. A military judge is expected
to rule on both defense motions in a few days. External link: http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/military/20070302-9999-1mi2thomas.html |