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The War Profiteers - War Crimes,
Kidnappings, Torture and Big Money |
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February 9th,
2007 - Sudden Switch Stuns Sentencing Hearing |
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Sudden Switch Stuns Sentencing
Hearing By Dave Hasemyer and Rick Rogers San Diego Union-Tribune February 9, 2007 The march of guilty pleas in
the Hamdaniya murder case did an about-face yesterday when Marine Cpl. Trent
D. Thomas decided he couldn't follow through. At his plea agreement
session three weeks ago, Thomas meticulously testified how he had helped
kidnap and execute an Iraqi man April 26 in the town of Hamdaniya. He
repeatedly acknowledged knowing at the time that his actions were criminal
and that he should have defied his superior officer's illegal orders. But during his sentencing
hearing yesterday morning at Camp Pendleton, Thomas stunned the judge by
asking to withdraw his guilty pleas, saying he was following a lawful order
to shoot at Hashim Ibrahim Awad. “Sir, when my country gives
me an order, I follow it,” he told the judge, Lt. Col. Tracy A. Daly. “I
believe I had justification.” Daly allowed Thomas to
cancel his plea agreement, enabling him to restart his case, but the judge
also warned that he could now face the death penalty. The military has not
sought that punishment for any of the other seven suspects in the Hamdaniya
case, four of whom have completed plea deals. Marine prosecutors said they
would refile charges against Thomas, including one count of premeditated
murder, as soon as possible. They will not be allowed to introduce his
previous guilty plea or his past testimony in any future proceedings. At the end of yesterday's
hearing, Thomas' lawyers explained their client's reasoning. “Each night when Cpl. Thomas
put his head on the pillow in the brig, he had time to think about it all,”
said Maj. Haythem Faraj, one of Thomas' military defense attorneys. “He
decided to fight.” Victor Kelley, the civilian
member of Thomas' defense team, said Thomas had an “epiphany” and understood
the risks of going through with court-martial. “He knows what is at stake,”
Kelley said. “He believes the truth will prevail in the end.” Yesterday's developments
surprised and perplexed legal experts. “It is highly unusual,” said
John Hutson, president and dean of the Franklin Pierce Law Center and
formerly the Navy's top lawyer. “It could be the accused got cold feet or
that the defense got new evidence or that they are unhappy with how the case
was going.” Thomas is “rolling the
dice,” Hutson said, by withdrawing from the plea agreement. “He presumably pleaded
guilty (in the first place) because he was guilty and the prosecution could
prove it,” Hutson added. “Unless something has changed, he is still guilty
and the prosecution can still prove it.” Eugene Fidell, a veteran
military defense attorney in Washington, said Thomas' change of heart
reverses months of legal maneuvering. “The prosecution now has to
try him or make another deal,” he said. As Thomas announced his
decision yesterday, word spread that another Hamdaniya defendant – Lance Cpl.
Robert B. Pennington – had reached a tentative plea agreement with
prosecutors. Pennington is expected to
testify next week about the abduction and killing of Awad, said sources with
firsthand knowledge of the situation who insisted on anonymity because they
are not authorized to discuss the case. “I can neither confirm nor
deny that a deal has been made. I'm between a rock and a hard place,” said
Pennington's civilian attorney, Carlsbad lawyer David Brahms. Pennington, Thomas and the
other Hamdaniya defendants are from the Camp Pendleton-based Kilo Company,
3rd Battalion, 5th Marine Regiment. All of the servicemen
initially faced murder and other charges. In exchange for pleading guilty,
the four defendants with completed plea deals faced lesser charges including
larceny and assault, and are required to testify against their co-defendants.
They have been sentenced to terms ranging from less than a year to 21 months. During his Jan. 18
plea-agreement hearing, Thomas became the first Hamdaniya defendant to plead
guilty to murder. After apologizing for his actions, he provided a vivid account
of how his unit orchestrated and carried out a vigilante-style execution plot
that resulted in Awad's death. On the night of April 25,
Thomas said, he and three other Marines from his squad went looking for Saleh
Gowad, who was suspected of planting bombs that had killed several Marines. After failing to find Gowad,
the group went to a neighboring house and kidnapped Awad, a 52-year-old
grandfather with no known ties to insurgents, Thomas testified. The captors took Awad to a
roadside hole, where they met up with the rest of the unit. Thomas said he
helped bind Awad's hands and feet with plastic ties. At one point, Thomas
recalled, Pennington tried to choke Awad so he would pass out and no longer
struggle. Minutes before 1:30 a.m. on
April 26, Thomas testified, he and four other Marines shot at Awad from about
80 yards away. Under questioning from Daly, the judge, Thomas, said he shot
Awad several times in the body from about 10 feet to 15 feet away. But he
insisted that Awad was still alive before Sgt. Lawrence G. Hutchins III, the
squad's leader, fired three rounds into the victim's head. Thomas and other defendants
have testified that after the killing, they tried to make it look as if Awad
fired on them after being discovered trying to plant a roadside bomb. “I believe (our actions)
bring discredit to the armed services,” Thomas said Jan. 18. Yesterday morning, though,
Thomas and his attorneys said he believed that Hutchins' orders during the
Hamdaniya incident were lawful. A clearly exasperated Daly
asked prosecutors for their opinion on Thomas' reversal and got shrugs from
them. “We have accepted the
pleas,” Lt. Col. John Baker told the judge. “I am going to leave this in your
hands.” Under terse questioning by
Daly, Thomas said he was following orders he thought were supported by the
military's rules of engagement. “I don't ask questions from
my superiors,” Thomas testified. “I get told to do something, I roger up and
do it.” Several times during his
inquiry, Daly cut off Thomas and admonished him to listen more carefully to
his questions. By afternoon, the judge
agreed to nullify the plea agreement between Thomas and the Marine Corps. “After listening to Cpl.
Thomas' additional answers,” Daly said, “the court is inclined to enter
not-guilty pleas.” External link: http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/military/20070209-9999-1n9thomas.html |