|
The War Profiteers - War Crimes,
Kidnappings, Torture and Big Money |
|
February 10th,
2007 - Accused Marine Faces Tough Legal Fight |
|
Accused Marine Faces Tough Legal
Fight By Associated Press February 10, 2007 San Diego - A Marine who
withdrew his guilty plea to kidnapping and murdering an Iraqi man will have a
difficult time proving he was only following orders, military experts said. Cpl. Trent D. Thomas stunned
a military courtroom at Camp Pendleton when he claimed that he took part in
the killing of Hashim Ibrahim Awad only because his squad leader ordered him.
Ibrahim, 52, was dragged from his home and shot last year. Gary Solis, a former Marine
Corps prosecutor and judge who teaches law of war at Georgetown University
Law Center, said Friday that Thomas must persuade a court that the serviceman
received a direct order, and that he didn’t know that the order was unlawful. “Obedience to orders is
traditionally a weak defense,” Solis said. “You can’t hide behind it unless
you did not and could not reasonably have been expected to know the order was
unlawful.” Thomas, 25, withdrew his
guilty pleas on Thursday, the second day of his sentencing hearing, and one
of his lawyers said his client had an “epiphany” the night before. Thomas pleaded guilty Jan.
18 as part of a plea agreement with prosecutors that would have provided him
a cap on his jail term. Thomas, of Madison, Ill.,
was one of a squad of seven Marines and a sailor accused last year of
hatching a plot to kill an Iraqi in the town of Hamdania. Four others already
pleaded guilty to lesser charges. Thomas, the squad’s second in command, was
the first to plead guilty to murder. Prosecutors said Thursday
they would file new charges within days. If convicted, he may be sentenced to
the death, though that appears unlikely. Maj. Haytham Faraj, one of
Thomas’s military lawyers, said Friday that Thomas’ change of heart was
heavily influenced by the testimony of Navy Seaman Recruit Melson J. Bacos,
the Navy corpsman who was attached to the Marine squad the night of the
killing. Bacos testified Wednesday
that Thomas was instrumental in kidnapping Awad, but he said the corporal was
a good man and argued that if Thomas had been the squad leader, the killing
would not have happened. Faraj said that Thomas thought, “Hey, I’m not really
the monster they are making me to be.” Three other Marines and the
sailor have each been sentenced to less than two years in prison. Their plea
deals required them to testify they knew at the time of the killing that it
was unlawful. “If those more junior folks
were accepting the fact they were not following a lawful order, it seems to
me even harder for the second-most senior to turn around and say, ‘I thought
I was following a lawful order,”’ said David Glazier, a professor at Loyola
Law School Los Angeles who teaches the law of war. Thomas told the judge
Thursday that he thought he was following orders from squad leader Sgt.
Lawrence G. Hutchins III. Hutchins is awaiting trial on murder and other
charges. He has not entered a plea. Hutchins’ attorney did not return phone
messages Friday; he has said he did not think Hutchins did anything wrong. Although Thomas gave
detailed testimony last month about how he fired several rounds into Awad’s
body and then tried to cover up the killing, that account cannot be used at
trial. Thomas can ask to be tried by a judge or by a jury, which in the
military is usually made up of between five and 12 members. He can request that at least
one-third of the jury is made up of enlisted Marines. “It’s going to be a
difficult task for them, given the strength of the government’s evidence,”
Solis said. “But stranger things have happened.” © Copyright 2007 Associated
Press. All rights reserved. External link: http://news.bostonherald.com/national/west/view.bg?articleid=182185 |