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February 28th,
2007 - Iraqis Won’t Testify in Hamdania Killing |
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Iraqis Won’t Testify in
Hamdania Killing By Mark Walker North County Times February 28, 2007 9:57 PM PST Camp Pendleton - Four Iraqis
with whom Marine Corps officials were working to bring to Camp Pendleton to
testify in the slaying of an Iraqi civilian last year are no longer willing
to testify and will not be making the trip, a military judge was told
Wednesday. Lt. Col. John Baker made the
disclosure during arguments in advance of the scheduled April 23 trial of
Sgt. Lawrence Hutchins III. Hutchins' attorneys sought
this week to suppress an implicating statement he had made to investigators,
as well as to get government approval for a second trip to Iraq to interview
witnesses. Hutchins is charged with
leading a platoon of seven Marines and a Navy corpsman who prosecutors say
abducted and killed a 52-year-old retired Iraqi policeman in the village of
Hamdania, Iraq, on April 26. The corpsman and five of the
Marines who Hutchins led in Hamdania have pleaded guilty to their roles in
the killing, and each say it was Hutchins who led the plot. He faces murder,
conspiracy, kidnapping and related offenses in the slaying of a man that
prosecutors contend had no insurgent ties and was seized from his home in the
middle of the night. Baker told Lt. Col. Jeffrey
Meeks, the judge presiding over Hutchins' court-martial, that the witnesses
in the shooting death of Hashim Ibrahim Awad were to be here this week to
testify. "The four Iraqis who
were coming to the U.S. now are no longer willing to do so," Baker said. The Iraqis were expected to
testify in the case against Hutchins and two remaining defendants, Cpl. Trent
Thomas and Lance Cpl. Marshall Magincalda. Meeks did not rule on either
defense motion when the court adjourned late Wednesday afternoon. He said he
wanted more time to consider the arguments before issuing a decision within
the next few days. In asking for a second
defense trip to Iraq, Hutchins' attorney, Lt. Col. Joseph Smith, said a visit
arranged for the lawyers to Hamdania on Jan. 25 was hampered because the
group had only 45 minutes on the ground and no chance to interview witnesses
they contend could help their client's case. They want Meeks to order a
second trip - one that Marine Corps officials testified would be fraught with
problems, because the area northwest of Baghdad is not under direct U.S.
control and is an area of frequent insurgent attacks. "We do understand the
security concerns, but the law provides equal access to witnesses,"
Smith told Meeks. But the judge challenged
Smith to identify what he believed would be accomplished by a second trip and
pointed out the dangers. "There is a war going
on in Iraq," Meeks said. "It is not like going to Boston to visit
people." When the squad that Hutchins
led was in Hamdania, U.S. forces were conducting regular patrols and the area
was considered safer. But Lt. Col. Clifford
Weinstein testified that the area hasn't been safe since November. Providing
the kind of security that it would take to allow attorneys to go around the
village and knock on doors would require a battalion-size force of 1,000 to
1,500 troops, he said. The defense did win on one
point this week: Lt. Gen. James Mattis, the convening authority over the case
as head of the I Marine Expeditionary Force and all Marines in the Middle
East, approved the appointment of an investigator to help sift through classified
material about the squad's efforts at counterintelligence while in Hamdania.
That material could contain evidence that would help Hutchins, Smith said. In arguing to suppress a
seven-page, single-spaced statement that Hutchins wrote in Iraq when confronted
with Awad's killing, the defense contended it was written under duress and
after Hutchins had asked for an attorney but not been provided one. As a result, the statement
should be considered coerced, and anything in it that implicates him should
not be allowed into evidence at his trial, the defense argued. But Baker, the lead
prosecutor, said the statement was made voluntarily and at Hutchins' request. Baker also said that
Hutchins' statement to an investigator in Iraq - that he fired three bullets
into Awad's head as the man struggled to breathe, minutes after being shot by
the members of his squad - was voluntary and should be allowed into evidence. Hutchins' lead attorney,
Rich Brannon, said that despite the fact that the five men who have pleaded
guilty are now required to testify against his client, and are expected to
name him as the mastermind of the killing, he believes the 22-year-old
Massachusetts native is innocent. "I believe in my client
and I believe he is innocent until proven guilty," Brannon said, adding
that the defense will work to tie the victim to the insurgency, either
through his actions or those of his relatives. All of the accused are from
Camp Pendleton's 3rd Battalion, 5th Marine Regiment. "Anytime you have five co-defendants
willing to testify, it makes it more difficult," Brannon said. Hutchins, who also is
charged with assaulting three other Iraqis, did not testify during this
week's hearing. He faces life in prison if a military jury convicts him and
he receives the maximum possible sentence. Thomas is due in a base
courtroom this morning for arraignment and motions in his case. He withdrew
guilty pleas he had entered on Jan. 18 and is being allowed to take his case
to trial. His plea withdrawal resulted in charges being refiled against him
that now include premeditated murder. He was previously charged with
unpremeditated murder. Those who have pleaded
guilty have testified that Awad's killing was meant to "send a
message" to insurgents that the Marines were tired of being attacked. External link: http://www.nctimes.com/articles/2007/03/01/military/12_68_112_28_07.txt |