Eight Military Men Charged in Iraqi Murder
Troops charged with murdering Iraqi civilian
U.S. soldiers are silhouetted in this March 10, 2003 file photo. The U.S. Marine Corps will announce criminal charges on Wednesday against troops in the April 26 killing of an Iraqi civilian in a case in which seven Marines and a Navy corpsman are being held in pretrial confinement, a U.S. defense official said. (Jason Reed/Reuters)
June 21, 2006
By Will Dunham
WASHINGTON (Reuters) -The military on Wednesday charged seven Marines and a Navy corpsman with premeditated murder and other crimes in the April 26 killing of an Iraqi civilian in a village west of Baghdad, the U.S. Marine Corps said on Wednesday.
All eight men face the possibility of the death penalty if convicted. They were charged with premeditated murder, larceny, conspiracy, housebreaking, making false official statements, assault, kidnapping and obstruction of justice.
"The Marine Corps takes allegations of wrongdoing by Marines very seriously and is committed to thoroughly investigating such allegations. The Marine Corps also prides itself on holding its members accountable for their actions," Col. Stewart Navarre told reporters at Camp Pendleton, California.
Defense lawyers have asserted that investigators extracted incriminating statements by using inappropriate interrogation methods.
The incident took place in the town of Hamdania in central Iraq, and is a separate case from the November 19 killing of 24 civilians in Haditha in which other Marines are suspected.
Military criminal investigators examined whether the servicemen fatally shot a 52-year-old disabled Iraqi man, Hashim Ibrahim Awad, in the face, then planted an AK-47 assault rifle and a shovel next to his body to make it appear he was an insurgent placing a roadside bomb.
Those charged were: Sgt. Lawrence Hutchins, Cpl. Trent Thomas, Lance Cpl. Tyler Jackson, Pfc. John Jodka, Lance Cpl. Jerry Shumate, Lance Cpl. Robert Pennington, Cpl. Marshall Magincalda, and Hospitalman Third Class Melson Bacos.
The eight men have been held in pretrial confinement at the Camp Pendleton brig since May 24.
ANOTHER MURDER CASE
In a development in a separate case, the military said a fourth Army soldier, Spc. Juston Graber, had been charged with premeditated murder in connection with the shooting deaths of three detainees in Iraq on May 9. The military said on Monday three other soldiers were charged in the same killings and with threatening to kill a fellow soldier if he told authorities the truth about the case.
All four soldiers also face a possible death penalty.
It marks the latest case of misconduct by U.S. troops in Iraq, although military leaders maintain the vast majority of American troops have conducted themselves honorably.
Joseph Casas, a defense lawyer representing Jodka, said his client was innocent and that military investigators used inappropriate methods to obtain statements from the troops in the case.
Casas said the statements were not "confessions" and that he would seek to have the statements suppressed at the trial.
"I can tell you with regard to my client, he was subjected to at least three interrogations, one of which lasted about eight hours without any food, water, restroom breaks, you name it," Casas said.
"The way that they obtained these statements is something that's going to be under our magnifying glass throughout this trial," he said.
The military held the eight suspects in "maximum" custody for three weeks, officials at the base said. They were restrained with handcuffs attached to a leather belt and leg cuffs any time they left their cells. Authorities slightly loosened the conditions last week to enable them to have no such restraints while inside jail, the base said.
Jane Siegel, another lawyer representing Jodka, said interrogators used "strong-arm" tactics and threats of life imprisonment to elicit statements from the eight men.
"The techniques that they used to acquire these statements are as close to old-fashioned psychological rubber hoses as you can get," Siegel said.
The Washington Post has reported the slain man was known in his village as "Hashim the Lame" because he had a metal bar surgically inserted into one leg several years ago.
(Additional reporting by Kristin Roberts)
U.S. soldiers are silhouetted in this March 10, 2003 file photo. The U.S. Marine Corps will announce criminal charges on Wednesday against troops in the April 26 killing of an Iraqi civilian in a case in which seven Marines and a Navy corpsman are being held in pretrial confinement, a U.S. defense official said. (Jason Reed/Reuters)
June 21, 2006
By Will Dunham
WASHINGTON (Reuters) -The military on Wednesday charged seven Marines and a Navy corpsman with premeditated murder and other crimes in the April 26 killing of an Iraqi civilian in a village west of Baghdad, the U.S. Marine Corps said on Wednesday.
All eight men face the possibility of the death penalty if convicted. They were charged with premeditated murder, larceny, conspiracy, housebreaking, making false official statements, assault, kidnapping and obstruction of justice.
"The Marine Corps takes allegations of wrongdoing by Marines very seriously and is committed to thoroughly investigating such allegations. The Marine Corps also prides itself on holding its members accountable for their actions," Col. Stewart Navarre told reporters at Camp Pendleton, California.
Defense lawyers have asserted that investigators extracted incriminating statements by using inappropriate interrogation methods.
The incident took place in the town of Hamdania in central Iraq, and is a separate case from the November 19 killing of 24 civilians in Haditha in which other Marines are suspected.
Military criminal investigators examined whether the servicemen fatally shot a 52-year-old disabled Iraqi man, Hashim Ibrahim Awad, in the face, then planted an AK-47 assault rifle and a shovel next to his body to make it appear he was an insurgent placing a roadside bomb.
Those charged were: Sgt. Lawrence Hutchins, Cpl. Trent Thomas, Lance Cpl. Tyler Jackson, Pfc. John Jodka, Lance Cpl. Jerry Shumate, Lance Cpl. Robert Pennington, Cpl. Marshall Magincalda, and Hospitalman Third Class Melson Bacos.
The eight men have been held in pretrial confinement at the Camp Pendleton brig since May 24.
ANOTHER MURDER CASE
In a development in a separate case, the military said a fourth Army soldier, Spc. Juston Graber, had been charged with premeditated murder in connection with the shooting deaths of three detainees in Iraq on May 9. The military said on Monday three other soldiers were charged in the same killings and with threatening to kill a fellow soldier if he told authorities the truth about the case.
All four soldiers also face a possible death penalty.
It marks the latest case of misconduct by U.S. troops in Iraq, although military leaders maintain the vast majority of American troops have conducted themselves honorably.
Joseph Casas, a defense lawyer representing Jodka, said his client was innocent and that military investigators used inappropriate methods to obtain statements from the troops in the case.
Casas said the statements were not "confessions" and that he would seek to have the statements suppressed at the trial.
"I can tell you with regard to my client, he was subjected to at least three interrogations, one of which lasted about eight hours without any food, water, restroom breaks, you name it," Casas said.
"The way that they obtained these statements is something that's going to be under our magnifying glass throughout this trial," he said.
The military held the eight suspects in "maximum" custody for three weeks, officials at the base said. They were restrained with handcuffs attached to a leather belt and leg cuffs any time they left their cells. Authorities slightly loosened the conditions last week to enable them to have no such restraints while inside jail, the base said.
Jane Siegel, another lawyer representing Jodka, said interrogators used "strong-arm" tactics and threats of life imprisonment to elicit statements from the eight men.
"The techniques that they used to acquire these statements are as close to old-fashioned psychological rubber hoses as you can get," Siegel said.
The Washington Post has reported the slain man was known in his village as "Hashim the Lame" because he had a metal bar surgically inserted into one leg several years ago.
(Additional reporting by Kristin Roberts)
posted by HRM Deborah of Israel and the Messenger of Peace at 12:57 AM
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