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July 19th,
2007 - Marine Guilty on Two Charges but not Murder in Iraqi’s Death News article by the San Diego
Union-Tribune |
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Marine Guilty
on Two Charges but not Murder in Iraqi’s Death Life term still possible in Hamdaniya slaying By Rick Rogers San Diego Union-Tribune July 19, 2007 In a verdict described as
“splitting the baby,” a jury found a Marine guilty of conspiracy and
kidnapping yesterday but not of premeditated murder in the shooting death of
an Iraqi man last year. Cpl. Trent D. Thomas stood
at attention as the jury of nine fellow Marines announced its decision on a
list of charges. He showed no emotion as the verdict was read in a Camp Pendleton
courtroom. But his family members wept
when they learned the jury had found him not guilty of premeditated murder.
If convicted on that charge, Thomas automatically would have been sent to
prison for life without parole. “Whewww!” Thomas said as he
ducked out of the courtroom to hug his mother, wife and other relatives. He
also was found not guilty of larceny, housebreaking and making false official
statements. But Thomas is not home free. Based on the two guilty
counts, he still qualifies for life in prison. The situation prompted a
military lawyer observing yesterday's trial to comment that the verdict was
really “splitting the baby.” Jurors will begin sentencing
deliberations today. “We are extremely pleased
that the members found him not guilty of premeditated murder. That was our
principal focus,” said Victor Kelley, Thomas' lead attorney. Kelley said he was
“obviously worried” that Thomas still faces a long prison sentence. “Now that the mandatory
minimum of life without parole is off the table, the panel has a great deal
of flexibility, and I think it will do what is appropriate,” Kelley said. The jury's finding on the
charge of premeditated murder might be most gratifying to Thomas and his
attorneys. In January, Thomas struck a
plea deal with the prosecution that required him to plead guilty to charges
such as murder, assault, housebreaking, larceny and kidnapping. During a court hearing to
finalize that deal, he offered the most complete account to date of how his
unit snatched the Iraqi man from his bed, took him to a roadside hole, bound
him and finally killed him with a barrage of bullets. Facing a judge, Thomas gave
a reason for the crime. “We wanted to make a
statement that Marines were sick and tired of being bombed and stuff,” Thomas
said at the time. Thomas also said he shot the
Iraqi man several times in the body from 10 to 15 feet away. But he insisted
that the victim was still alive before the commander of his squad, Sgt.
Lawrence G. Hutchins, put a three-shot burst into the victim's head. Three weeks later at his
sentencing hearing, Thomas withdrew his guilty plea and decided to take his
chances at trial. He insisted that he was following a lawful command to carry
out the killing. “Sir, when my country gives
me an order, I follow it,” Thomas told the judge at the time. “I believe I
had justification.” Maj. Haytham Faraj, one of
Thomas' military defense attorneys, said his client felt the plea deal was
unjust. Several analysts had said the prosecution offered Thomas a 12-year
prison sentence as part of that deal. “Each night when Cpl. Thomas
put his head on the pillow in the brig, he had time to think about it all,”
Faraj said. “He decided to fight.” During Thomas'
court-martial, which began July 9, defense attorneys re-emphasized the theme
that their client suffered from poor leadership in his unit. They also argued that
Thomas' judgment was impaired by his post-traumatic stress disorder and
traumatic brain injury, and that the dead Iraqi man was a suspected insurgent
and not an innocent civilian. The jury's verdict came
during a crucial period in the Hamdaniya case. The court-martial for Cpl.
Marshall L. Magincalda, a senior member of the squad to which Thomas
belonged, is set to start tomorrow. The one for Hutchins, who allegedly
concocted the murder plot and served as ringleader, is scheduled to begin
four days afterward. Hutchins, Magincalda, Thomas
and the other Hamdaniya defendants were members of Kilo Company, 3rd
Battalion, 5th Marine Regiment. Five of them have finalized
plea deals with the prosecution. They received shorter prison terms – 10
months to eight years – in exchange for testifying against the remaining
defendants. Several of those witnesses
have affirmed the prosecution's version of what happened in Hamdaniya, a
small town in the insurgent-filled Anbar province. On the evening of April 25,
2006, some members of the squad stopped at a palm grove in Hamdaniya while on
patrol. There, Hutchins allegedly
proposed that his unit kidnap and kill Saleh Gowad. The Marines had captured
Gowad several times because they suspected he was an insurgent, but Iraqi
authorities always released him afterward. Court records show that
Hutchins twice told the squad's six Marines and one sailor that if any of
them opposed the plot, it would not go forward. All the servicemen said they
were in, according to testimony. They fine-tuned the plan:
Kidnap Gowad, shoot him, and make it look as if Gowad had fired on the
Marines when they discovered him trying to plant a roadside bomb. The unit
would put a shovel and shell casings on Gowad's body to create the appearance
of a firefight, according to prosecutors. Shortly after midnight the
next day, Thomas allegedly led a four-man team to go looking for Gowad. When
the troops couldn't find him, Thomas picked the lock of a house belonging to
a 52-year-old man whose identity is still in dispute. The group tied the man's
hands and forced him to walk about 1,000 yards to a roadside hole, court
documents show. Once in the hole, the man struggled while Marines tied his
feet and stuffed his mouth. He soiled himself when he sensed the impending
execution. Moments later, the servicemen
fired their rifles. Thomas then shot the man in the chest at close range, and
finally Hutchins shot him in the head, prosecutors have said. Later, an autopsy determined
that the man was shot at least 11 times. External link: http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/military/20070719-9999-1n19thomas.html Marine awaits sentencing in
murder plot By Allison Hoffman Associated Press July 19, 2007, 4:17PM Camp Pendleton, Calif. - The
wife of a Marine convicted of kidnapping and conspiring to murder an Iraqi
man last year wept at her husband's sentencing hearing Thursday as she told
the military jury that she wanted him out of the brig. "I would like him to
come home," said Erica Thomas. Cpl. Trent Thomas, a
25-year-old father of two, faces a maximum sentence of life in prison without
parole even after the jury acquitted him of the most serious charge of
premeditated murder on Wednesday. He was also acquitted making a false
official statement, housebreaking and larceny. Prosecutors say Thomas and
other members of his squad kidnapped an Iraqi man from his home in Hamdania
and murdered him after they failed to find a suspected insurgent in April
2006. The murder charge had
carried a minimum life sentence; there is no minimum sentence for conspiracy
and kidnapping. "Now that the mandatory
minimum of life is off the table, the panel has a great deal of flexibility
and I think they will do what is appropriate," Victor Kelley, Thomas'
attorney, said Wednesday. Thomas' attorneys had argued
at trial that their client was only following orders from his squad leader
and that his judgment was impaired from repeated bomb blasts during three
tours in Iraq. Thomas, of Madison, Ill.,
was among seven Marines and a Navy corpsman accused of killing the civilian,
who they found asleep in his home. Squad members tried to cover up the
killing by planting a shovel and AK-47 by his body to make it look like he
was an insurgent planting a bomb, the charges allege. Thomas was the senior
corporal in the squad and a fireteam leader and the first to take his case to
trial. Four other Marines and the sailor pleaded guilty to reduced charges in
exchange for their testimony, each receiving between one and eight years in
the brig. Two of the Marines face trial. Thomas agreed in January to
plead guilty to unpremeditated murder, kidnapping, conspiracy and other
charges. He stunned the court by withdrawing his guilty plea on the eve of
sentencing in February. The final terms of Thomas'
punishment will be subject to review by Lt. Gen. James Mattis, the commanding
general overseeing the case. Courts-martial have been
scheduled for the two Marines remaining in the case - Cpl. Marshall L.
Magincalda on Friday and of squad leader Sgt. Lawrence Hutchins III next week. External link:
http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/ap/nation/4982939.html |