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The War Profiteers - War Crimes,
Kidnappings, Torture and Big Money |
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February 22nd,
2007 - Hamdania Squad Leader due in Court Next Week |
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Hamdania Squad Leader due in
Court Next Week By Mark Walker North County Times February 22, 2007 9:50 PM PST North County - Attorneys for
a Marine sergeant who allegedly led the abduction and slaying of an Iraqi
civilian last year are attempting to prevent prosecutors from introducing
incriminating statements by other defendants during their client's upcoming
court-martial. Sgt. Lawrence Hutchins III
is due in a Camp Pendleton courtroom Monday and Tuesday for motion hearings
in advance of his scheduled April trial. Hutchins is accused of
murder and six other felonies in the April 26, 2006, death of Hashim Ibrahim
Awad. Five of the men he led have entered guilty pleas and said the crime was
carried out under Hutchins' direction. Hutchins' lead attorney,
Rich Brannon, said the defense also will ask the judge to approve a second
trip to Iraq for attorneys. A 10-day trip last month to
the village of Hamdania, in Anbar province where the killing took place, did
not provide sufficient time or access to witnesses, Brannon said. "We were hampered in
that we couldn't get a lot of things we wanted to do accomplished because of
security concerns," Brannon said this week during a telephone interview
from his office in Gainesville, Ga. Hutchins' attorneys and
those for another of the three remaining defendants, Cpl. Marshall
Magincalda, were able to visit Hamdania, talk to a few residents and see the
site where Awad was killed. But the five-member group,
escorted by troops from Camp Pendleton's I Marine Expeditionary Force, was
not able to interview relatives of the 52-year-old slain Iraqi, a retired
policeman who prosecutors have repeatedly said had no known ties to insurgent
activity. Despite not being able to
talk to any Awad family members, Brannon said he believes the trip will give
him credibility with the military jury that will hear his client's case,
which is set for a two-week trial starting April 23 but could be moved to
later in the year. "I can at least tell
the jury that I have been there and I have spent time with the Marines on the
ground in Iraq," said Brannon, who served in the Marine Corps in the 1980s. Hutchins faces up to life in
prison if convicted. The five men who have pleaded guilty have been sentenced
to terms ranging from 12 months to eight years behind bars. The slaying, according to
statements in court from those who have pleaded guilty, was carried out to
"send a message" to Hamdania residents that the troops were not
going to tolerate further attacks that had seen some of their fellow Marines
killed and injured. Brannon maintains his client
is not guilty. Despite the statements from the men who have pleaded guilty,
he said he does not believe the full story of what happened has yet been
aired. Platoon members have said
that their intended target was a known insurgent believed responsible for
numerous roadside bombings. Brannon contends that was the man that Hutchins
believed his squad had taken from a home, bound and placed along a road to be
shot. Hutchins was among the
shooters and performed a "dead check" after the initial round of
shooting in which he fired three rounds into the man's head, according those
who pleaded guilty. Brannon also hinted that he
will raise issues that Marines in Anbar confront almost daily. "You cannot imagine
what five or six months over there does to a human being when you are placed
in a situation where you can be killed by anyone you see at almost any
time," he said. None of the men charged in
the case have yet gone to trial. Each has been offered a plea deal with the
convening authority over the case, Lt. Gen. James Mattis, including Hutchins. "It was nowhere near
acceptable," Brannon said of the offer his client got, declining to
outline its specific terms. "It represented serious jail time." Besides Hutchins and
Magincalda, the remaining defendant is Cpl. Trent Thomas. Earlier this month, Thomas
withdrew six guilty pleas he had entered on Jan. 18. That move came on the
third day of his sentencing hearing and resulted, he said, from a realization
that he now believes he was "acting under the color of law" in
carrying out a direct order he said Hutchins had issued. The first man to plead
guilty in the case, Navy Corpsman Melson Bacos, testified during the Thomas
hearing that Hutchins told the squad immediately after the killing:
"Congratulations, gents. We just got away with murder." Brannon declined to comment
on statements by Thomas and Bacos. External link: http://www.nctimes.com/articles/2007/02/23/news/top_stories/21_03_542_22_07.txt |