Marine sentenced over Iraq murder
Sgt Hutchins led the unit that abducted and killed the civilian3 August 2007
A US marine has been sentenced to 15 years in prison for the murder of an Iraqi civilian during a failed search for an insurgent by the unit he led.
Sgt Lawrence Hutchins was also dishonourably discharged and demoted to private by a court martial jury.
The sentence came a day after he was found guilty of unpremeditated murder and conspiracy to murder.
Hashim Ibrahim Awad, 52, was shot dead during a raid in Hamdaniya, near Baghdad, last year.
Prosecutors said the unit, led by Sgt Hutchins, had abducted Mr Awad from his house when it could not find a suspected insurgent who lived next door.
HAMDANIYA DEFENDANTS
Sgt Lawrence G Hutchins: Guilty of murder, conspiracy, making a false statement, theft; 15 years in prison
The sentence came a day after he was found guilty of unpremeditated murder and conspiracy to murder.
Hashim Ibrahim Awad, 52, was shot dead during a raid in Hamdaniya, near Baghdad, last year.
Prosecutors said the unit, led by Sgt Hutchins, had abducted Mr Awad from his house when it could not find a suspected insurgent who lived next door.
HAMDANIYA DEFENDANTS
Sgt Lawrence G Hutchins: Guilty of murder, conspiracy, making a false statement, theft; 15 years in prison
L Cpl Robert Pennington: Guilty of conspiracy to murder, kidnapping; eight years in prison, demoted
L Cpl Tyler Jackson: Guilty of conspiracy to murder, kidnapping, making a false statement, housebreaking; 21 months in prison, demoted
Cpl Marshall Magincalda: Guilty of conspiracy to murder, theft, housebreaking; 448 days in prison, demoted
Petty Officer Melson Bacos: Guilty of conspiracy to murder, kidnapping, making a false statement; One year in prison, demoted
Cpl Trent Thomas: Guilty of conspiracy to murder, kidnapping; demoted, dishonourably discharged
L Cpl Jerry Shumate: Guilty of aggravated assault and conspiracy to obstruct justice; 21 months in prison, demoted
Pte John Jodka: Guilty of aggravated assault and conspiracy to obstruct justice; 18 months in prison, demoted
Another member of the unit, Cpl Marshall Magincalda, was convicted of conspiracy to murder by the court martial at Camp Pendleton, California.
He was freed after being sentenced to the 448 days he had already served in custody, and demoted to private.
Cpl Magincalda was also convicted of theft and burglary, but acquitted of premeditated murder and kidnapping.
Another member of the unit, Cpl Trent Thomas, was acquitted of murder last month, but convicted of conspiracy to murder and kidnapping.
He escaped a prison sentence but was reduced in rank and dishonourably discharged.
Five of the eight soldiers originally implicated in the murder entered plea bargain deals with prosecutors for their testimony and have already been sentenced to between one and eight years in prison.
The case is one of several in which US troops have been accused of killing Iraqi civilians.
Labels: Iraq, United States
posted by HRM Deborah of Israel and the Messenger of Peace at 7:00 AM
4 Comments:
Everybody must be punished in the end.. USA doesn't belong there.. they are criminals just for walking with military in a foreign country!
They should hang all of the marines who are in iraq.. they dont belong there anyway
I am a middle aged american woman and friday's sentencing makes me horribly sad. If the marine had pulled someone from their home, dragged them out into the street and shot them repeatedly in this country, he would have either gotten life in prison or the death penalty. 15 years in prison?! What makes one human being's life less worthy? It's very sad.
I'm relieved this man was found guilty. I was afraid he'd get away with it. But only 15 years in prison? Not only did these people kill an innocent man, but they brought shame upon the Marine Corps and the United States as a whole. I realize we don't belong over there and that's bad enough. But to go ahead and do something like this? I spent 9 years active duty military and currently serve in the reserves. Although we servicemembers deserve respect for the job we do, we are in fact, still people. We aren't perfect and are capable of doing bad things just like anyone else. I can't believe those who would defend these criminals just because they are U.S. Marines. I'm in the military and I'm glad they were all found guilty of their crimes.
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