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The War Profiteers - War Crimes,
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May 11th,
2007 - Judge: Jurors not to be Told Marine Faces Life in Prison in Hamdania
Case News article by North County Times |
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Judge: Jurors
not to be Told Marine Faces Life in Prison in Hamdania Case By Teri Figueroa North County Times May 11, 2007 8:26 AM PDT Camp Pendleton - Military
jurors in the upcoming court-martial of a corporal accused of murdering an
Iraqi civilian will not be told during trial that the Marine faces a minimum
sentence of life in prison if convicted of premeditated murder, a military
judge ruled Thursday. But Lt. Col. David M. Jones
ruled that the jury can hear details of the plea deals made by the
co-defendants of Cpl. Trent Thomas, who is set to stand court-martial for the
April 26, 2006, slaying of Hashim Ibrahim Awad, a retired Iraqi policeman
from the village of Hamdania. Thomas' attorneys argued in
court that the jury should know that most of the men accused in Awad's
slaying got light sentences in return for pleading guilty and agreeing to
testify against Thomas and two other Marines. "I believe that this is
crucial and essential to the defense," Jones said of letting the jury
hear about the sentences handed to other men accused in the case. Prosecutors say eight Camp
Pendleton troops assigned to the 3rd Battalion, 5th Marine Regiment dragged
Awad out of his home and shot him, then tried to stage the scene by framing
him as an insurgent planting a bomb. Thomas has pleaded not
guilty to charges of premeditated murder, kidnapping, conspiracy and related
offenses in the death of Awad. He also is charged with assault for the
alleged beating of another Iraqi in Hamdania on April 10, 2006. Five of the men from Thomas'
squad reached plea agreements with prosecutors in the Awad incident, and are
now serving jail terms ranging from 12 months to eight years. During Thomas' two-hour
hearing in a Camp Pendleton courtroom on Thursday, Jones revealed that the
25-year-old corporal was evaluated last week - at his attorneys' request - to
determine his mental capacity or mental responsibility as it relates to the
case. Jones said the results of that evaluation are not in yet. Jones also made a number of
other rulings, including a decision to let jurors to hear about a statement
Thomas made to investigators from the Naval Criminal Investigative Service
when he was questioned about Awad's death. "I have no doubt that
statement was given voluntarily and his rights were read," Jones said. Jones also granted Thomas' request
that one-third of the jury be made up of enlisted Marines. Thomas is set to be back in
court next week, so Jones can hear arguments on a number of pretrial issues,
including Thomas' request that his attorneys be allowed to go to Hamdania to
investigate. Jones' rulings came as part
of the first court hearing in Thomas' case since a military appellate court
put a hold on proceedings earlier this year, in order to give Thomas'
attorneys a chance to appeal a pretrial ruling. The higher court denied that
appeal and lifted the stay at the end of April, greenlighting the case to
move forward. Jones agreed Thursday to
push the trial back a few weeks. Thomas' trial will now begin no earlier than
July 9, although the exact trial date has not been set. Thomas pleaded guilty on
Jan. 18 to unpremeditated murder and all the other charges against him, but
was allowed to withdraw those pleas in February after what one of his
attorneys said was an "epiphany." When he withdrew the pleas
and demanded that his case go to trial, Thomas told the court he was doing so
because he believes he was carrying out an order issued by his squad
sergeant, and therefore is not guilty of any crime. The sergeant, Lawrence
Hutchins III, and Cpl. Marshall Magincalda are the remaining defendants in
the case. Government prosecutor Lt.
Col. John Baker argued that Thomas' jury doesn't need to know about the
sentences given to the five who pleaded guilty. Giving them that information,
he argued, may "plant the seeds" that could lead a jury to acquit
Thomas of murder charges. Defense attorney Maj. Dale
Saran argued to Jones that sharing the terms of the plea deals will show the
jury "the hammer hanging over (the) head" of each of the five
troops who have pleaded guilty. "The motive for lying
is the deal, what they got in return" for copping a plea and agreeing to
testify, Saran said. Saran said that Thomas will
not get a fair trial "if we are not allowed to show the extraordinary
motive they have for coming in here and giving what we believe is less than
honest testimony." "There's nothing wrong
with the (jury) members hearing that stuff and seeing it for what it
is," Saran said. Even though Jones rejected
the prosecution's request that he prevent jurors from hearing about the plea
deal sentences, he sided with the prosecution in ruling that the jurors - or
panel members as they are called in military courts - cannot hear during the
trial that Thomas faces a mandatory minimum sentence of life in prison if
convicted of premeditated murder. Prosecutor Capt. Nicholas
Gannon argued in court that telling the jury about the punishment for
premeditated murder would be "an attempt to build sympathy" in
Thomas' fight for an acquittal. "Cpl. Thomas is a combat
vet, an appealing young man charged with a horrific crime," Gannon said.
"There' s a lot of appealing things about Cpl. Thomas that Marines could
embrace. "The one single issue
before the members is guilt or innocence," Gannon later added. "The
sentencing ramifications are not relevant." External link: http://www.nctimes.com/articles/2007/05/11/news/top_stories/1_02_205_10_07.txt Defense can tell jury about
deals Corporal is accused in Hamdaniya death By Steve Liewer San Diego Union-Tribune May 11, 2007 Camp Pendleton - If Cpl. Trent
Thomas goes on trial for helping to kidnap and kill an Iraqi civilian last
year, his attorneys are likely to tell jurors about the allegedly lenient
plea deals given to some of Thomas' co-defendants. The attorneys asked a judge
at Camp Pendleton yesterday for permission to make that assertion, and he
ruled in their favor. Seven Marines and a Navy
corpsman are charged with abducting Hashim Ibrahim Awad from his home in
Hamdaniya, Iraq, on April 26, 2006, making it look as if Awad was planting a
roadside bomb, and then killing him in a hail of gunfire. The servicemen are
from the Camp Pendleton-based Kilo Company, 3rd Battalion, 5th Marine
Regiment. Four Marines and the
corpsman have pleaded guilty as part of their plea agreements with the
military. They agreed to testify against co-defendants in exchange for prison
sentences of one to eight years. When a service member pleads
guilty to a crime as part of a plea agreement, the sentence is sealed during the
subsequent court-martial. The judge hands down a separate sentence, and the
defendant gets the lighter of the two punishments. In the Hamdaniya cases, the
gap between the plea-agreement penalties and the judges' sentences has been
vast. For example, a judge said
Petty Officer 3rd Class Melson Bacos should serve 10 years in prison and be
dishonorably discharged for his role in the killing. In contrast, prosecutors
let Bacos off with 12 months and no punitive discharge. He is now out of
prison and back on active duty. Yesterday, prosecutors had
asked judge Lt. Col. Tracy Daly to prevent Thomas' attorneys from asking
about the plea agreements, arguing that they have nothing to do with Thomas'
case. “It gives the members
information they should not have,” said Lt. Col. John Baker, a prosecutor. But Maj. Dale Saran, one of
Thomas' attorneys, said jurors ought to be able to weigh what carrots
prosecutors dangled in front of Thomas' squad mates to gain their
cooperation. “They gave such a great
bargain to these guys, they don't want anyone to know about it,” Saran said. In siding with the defense,
Daly said the plea information was “crucial and essential,” especially in a
case of such great magnitude. However, he agreed with
prosecutors on a separate motion to block defense attorneys from telling
jurors about the minimum sentence of life in prison that Thomas would receive
if he is convicted of premeditated murder. Daly said the disclosure
might unfairly lead to “nullification,” in which a jury refuses to convict a
guilty defendant because of the severity of the penalty. The judge reluctantly
granted a defense motion to postpone the court-martial from June 18 to at
least July 9 because Thomas recently hired two more civilian attorneys. Military-law experts said
Thomas must dig himself out of a big hole to avoid a guilty verdict. In February, Thomas had
entered into a plea agreement with prosecutors in exchange for his testimony
against co-defendants. He gave his account of the slayings, acknowledging
that he had fired at Awad from 10 to 15 feet away. But then Thomas abruptly
withdrew from the plea agreement, declaring that he was following lawful
orders when he fired the shots. “(The defense) may not have
much they can do,” said Tom Umberg, an Army Reserve lawyer and a former state
assemblyman. “Your options are greatly reduced when your client confesses in
open court.” External link:
http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/military/20070511-9999-1mi11thomas.html |