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The War Profiteers - War Crimes,
Kidnappings, Torture and Big Money |
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July 31st,
2007 - Juries Get Cases About Hamdania Slaying |
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Juries Get Cases About
Hamdania Slaying By Teri Figueroa North County Times July 31, 2007 9:23 PM PDT Camp Pendleton - The fates
of two Marines accused of kidnapping and killing an Iraqi man were put in the
hands of military juries Monday afternoon. Sgt. Lawrence Hutchins faces
life in prison if his jury convicts him of murder and other charges for
leading Marines in a plot to kill a man they were told was the chief
insurgent in the area of Hamdania, a rural village in Iraq. When the squad
could not find that man, they grabbed his next-door neighbor and killed him
instead, Marines have testified. "Sgt. Hutchins is
criminally responsible," military prosecutor Lt. Col. John Baker told
Hutchins' jury of five officers and four enlisted Marines on Monday as he
made closing arguments in the case. Cpl. Marshall Magincalda is
also facing life in prison if he is convicted of murder and other charges for
his role in taking part in the plan. "They went out and
committed murder and thought they could get away with it," military
prosecutor Lt. Col. Sean Sullivan told Magincalda's jury of one officer and
five enlisted Marines. The two Marines are on trial
in separate military courtrooms for their roles in the death of Hashim
Ibrahim Awad on April 26, 2006. Defense attorneys in both
Hutchins' and Magincalda's cases did not deny that their clients played a
role in the plot, but argued that violence toward Iraqis was encouraged by
the men's superiors. "All of this is a
failure of command," said Hutchins' attorney, Rich Brannon. During both trials, jurors
heard testimony that the eight-man squad watched and heard about Marine Corps
superiors in their company beating Iraqi suspects during questioning, as well
as shoving guns in or near their mouths. There was also testimony
that the squad had not been considered aggressive enough by their leaders. Magincalda's jury
deliberated more than three hours Monday and went home without reaching a
verdict. Hutchins' jury will begin deliberations this morning. To reach a
verdict in a court-martial, two-thirds of the jurors must agree. According to testimony from
troops in the squad, Awad was dragged from his home in the middle of the
night by four of the squad's eight members. The troops marched Awad a
mile or so down the road, placed him in a dirt hole with his hands and feet
bound, and shot him to death, troops have testified. The squad then staged
the scene to make it appear Awad had been an insurgent planting a roadside
bomb, Marines have said. The eight troops were
charged with murder, conspiracy to commit murder and other offenses in Awad's
death. Five of them pleaded guilty to roles in the plot and testified against
their squad mates in exchange for sentences ranging from one to eight years
in military jail. Three of the accused men -
Hutchins, Magincalda and Cpl. Trent Thomas - opted to go to trial. Two weeks
ago, the jury in the Thomas trial convicted him of lesser charges but did not
sentence him to jail. The accused men - seven
Marines and a Navy corpsman - were all from Kilo Company's 1st squad, 2nd
platoon from Camp Pendleton's 3rd Battalion, 5th Marine Regiment. Brannon, Hutchins' attorney,
said his client took his cues from what he saw and heard from his superior
officers in the field. Brannon suggested that the
order to kill the original target of the plan - a suspected insurgent by the
name of Saleh Gowad - may have been hatched from "on high" and
handed down. Prosecutor Baker countered
with testimony that, after the killing, Hutchins stood over Awad's
bullet-ridden body and said "Gents, we have just gotten away with
murder." Magincalda's attorney,
Joseph Low, focused on testimony that his 24-year-old client, who helped
snatch Awad out of bed and forced him to the killing scene, did not take part
in the actual killing - that he did not pull the trigger and fire on Awad
when his squad mates did. Low argued that Magincalda
did not want to be part of the plan, and only partook in minimal roles. Prosecutor Sullivan pointed
out to the jury that players in a criminal conspiracy are liable for the
actions of the others in the plan. After the shooting, Hutchins
filed a report stating that the squad spotted Awad digging a bomb, and that
Awad started shooting at them, so they fired back and killed him. The
military deemed the killing justified, and did not question it until Iraqis
began complaining to a Marine battalion commander. That is when the
investigation began. "And what does our hero
do next?" Baker said of Hutchins. "He tells his Marines to stick to
the story." External link: http://www.nctimes.com/articles/2007/08/01/news/top_stories/1_32_197_31_07.txt |