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The War Profiteers - War Crimes,
Kidnappings, Torture and Big Money |
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February 13th,
2007 - Pennington Pleads Guilty to Two Counts in Awad Killing 1st news article by North County
Times |
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Pennington Pleads Guilty to Two
Counts in Awad Killing By Mark Walker North County Times February 13, 2007 10:14 PM PST Camp Pendleton - A Marine
lance corporal who was motivated to join the service after the 9/11 terror
attacks pleaded guilty Tuesday morning to kidnapping and conspiring to kill
and kidnap in connection with the slaying of a retired Iraqi policeman last year. Lance Cpl. Robert Pennington
told Col. Steven Folsom that he was voluntarily pleading guilty to conspiracy
and kidnapping in the April shooting death of 52-year-old Hashim Ibrahim Awad
in Hamdania, Iraq. With his parents watching
from a courtroom seat behind their son, the Seattle-area native entered the
guilty pleas in exchange for which prosecutors will withdraw charges of
murder, larceny and housebreaking. "Lance Cpl. Pennington,
do you wish to plead guilty?" Folsom asked. "Yes, sir, I do,"
Pennington replied at the end of a lengthy recitation of the accusations
against him and Pennington's account of what happened in the late night hours
of April 25 and early morning hours of April 26. When he was charged along
with seven squad mates last June, prosecutors said that Pennington helped
take Awad to the site where he died, bound the man's hands and feet and wiped
squad members' fingerprints from a stolen AK-47. He was also accused of
placing that weapon and a shovel in Awad's hands in an attempt to make it
appear the Iraqi was an insurgent planting a roadside bomb. During a question-and-answer
session with the judge, Pennington told a story that matched the version of
events told by other defendants in previous court proceedings. The squad set out that night
on a hunt for insurgents but decided as a group to instead seize a known
insurgent named Saleh Gowad and kill him as a message to the small village of
Hamdania that the Marines were not going to tolerate attacks. Pennington said that the
squad leader, Sgt. Lawrence Hutchins III, led the plot and he acknowledged he
helped finalize the plan and then shared it with the other platoon members. Hutchins has pleaded not
guilty and faces trial later this year, as do two other defendants. Seven Marines and a U.S.
Navy corpsman assigned to the unit were charged in the killing. When they couldn't locate
their intended target, Pennington said, the plan was to grab one of Gowad's
brothers, of whom he said they also suspected of taking part in roadside bombings
and other attacks. "It would affect the
insurgency and send a message," he said. "We felt that just
catching them would be an exercise in futility - they would just be released
a few days later." After finding none of those
men, Pennington said a team from the squad took Awad from his home
immediately next door to Gowad's residence. Awad was then forcibly marched
about 1,000 yards away and shot multiple times. When the shooting ended,
Pennington said each man agreed to lie and stick to a story that Awad was
caught in the act of digging a hole to plant a roadside bomb. Pennington joined the Marine
Corps before graduating from high school in 2002 in response to the 2001
al-Qaida attacks. "He was patriotic and
cared about what happened on 9/11," his mother, Deanna, told the North
County Times last year. "He wanted to give something back to his
country." Pennington is the fourth
Marine from the 3rd Battalion, 5th Marine Regiment to plead guilty in the
Awad case. The men who earlier admitted their roles in the slaying were
sentenced to jail terms ranging from 12 to 21 months. His court-martial continues
at 8:30 this morning. The defense is expected to call several witnesses,
including mental health authorities. At the end of the witness testimony,
each side will argue what they believe is an appropriate sentence, after
which Folsom will render a decision. The terms of the plea
agreement Pennington has reached won't be revealed until that point. Whichever
sentence is lesser - the one in the plea agreement or the one that Folsom
pronounces - will be the one that Pennington serves. External link: http://www.nctimes.com/articles/2007/02/14/news/top_stories/8_31_250_13_07.txt Marines refile charges
against Thomas; Premeditated murder alleged against corporal By Mark Walker North County Times February 13, 2007 10:11 PM PST Camp Pendleton - The Marine
Corps on Tuesday announced it had refiled criminal charges against a corporal
who last week withdrew guilty pleas he had entered in connection with the
slaying of an Iraqi civilian last year. Cpl. Trent Thomas is now
charged with premeditated murder in the April 26 slaying of Hashim Ibrahim
Awad in Hamdania, Iraq. He faces life in prison if a jury convicts him and he
is sentenced to the maximum penalty. Lt. Gen. James Mattis has
decided not to pursue a death penalty case against the 25-year-old St. Louis
native. Mattis is the convening authority over the case as commander of
Marine Corps Forces, Central Command. Thomas also has been
recharged with conspiracy, housebreaking, larceny, kidnapping and making a
false official statement. An aggravated assault charge that had been dropped
for his alleged role in the beating of an Iraqi civilian April 10 also has
been refiled. On Thursday, Thomas withdrew
the guilty pleas he entered Jan. 18 to charges that included non-premeditated
murder, the equivalent of second-degree murder in the civilian justice
system. He told the military court
on the third day of his sentencing hearing last week that despite having
earlier admitted his role in the killing, he now believes he was acting within
the law because he thought he was following an order given by his squad
leader, Sgt. Lawrence Hutchins III. Hutchins has pleaded not
guilty and faces trial later this year. He and Thomas were among eight men
from a 3rd Battalion, 5th Marine Regiment platoon charged in the Awad
slaying. Both also were charged in the assault case. Thomas is now set to go to
trial in mid-March, but that may change if a new judge is appointed as the
defense has requested. Military law specialists say
the plea withdrawals should not prevent Thomas from getting a fair trial, but
it could make it difficult to seat a jury. Gary Solis, a former Marine
Corps attorney who now teaches law at Washington's Georgetown University,
said last week that a key challenge will be finding an untainted jury pool. Allowing Thomas to withdraw
the guilty pleas is evidence of extreme caution being exercised to make sure
Thomas gets a fair trial, according to Eugene Fidell, president of the
National Institute of Military Justice in Washington. Thomas' attorneys plan to
try the case before a jury and his earlier statements of guilt will not be
admissible at trial. Under military law, Thomas can demand that one-third of
the panel be drawn from enlisted ranks. In an exclusive interview
with the North County Times on Jan. 17, the day before he entered his guilty
pleas, Thomas said he knew he was facing an extended jail sentence but still
loved the Marine Corps. "Through a bad
situation, so much good could come out of it," Thomas told the
newspaper. "A father is going to discipline his son, but he still loves
him. I love the Marine Corps, even if someone else in my shoes would be
down." In an interview with CNN
taped last week and broadcast Monday, Thomas told the network that the
killing stemmed from the pressures of combat. "At the time, I felt
that I was doing what I had to do," he said. "Now that I'm back
here, I know that it was wrong what we did, and for that I am truly sorry." External link: http://www.nctimes.com/articles/2007/02/14/military/8_32_952_13_07.txt |