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Posted by: kwflatbed

By THOMAS WATKINS
Associated Press Writer


CAMP PENDLETON, Calif. (AP) -- A Plymouth Marine sergeant will face a court-martial on murder, kidnapping and other charges in the killing of an Iraqi man in a town west of Baghdad, the Marine Corps announced Tuesday.
Gen. James Mattis, the commanding general in the case, said he would not seek the death penalty in the case against Sgt. Lawrence G. Hutchins, 22.
He was the leader of a squad of seven Marines and one Navy corpsman who were accused of kidnapping 52-year-old Hashim Ibrahim Awad in the town of Hamdania, taking him to a roadside hole, shooting him - and then trying to cover up the April 26 incident.
Hutchins was the last of the eight to have his case referred to court-martial. Four have made plea agreements; three others are moving toward trial.

Rich Brannon, Hutchins' attorney, did not immediately return a message left for him seeking comment, though he has said Hutchins did nothing wrong in Awad's death.
Earlier Tuesday, another squad member, Cpl. Trent Thomas, entered not guilty pleas at his arraignment.
Thomas, 24, is charged with kidnap, murder, conspiracy, making a false official statement, larceny and housebreaking in Awad's death. Thomas, from the St. Louis area, was on his second combat tour in Iraq. He could be sentenced to life in prison if convicted at his trial, which was set for March 12.
Of the seven other troops in the case, two junior Marines and the corpsman made deals under which they pleaded guilty to reduced charges in return for giving testimony about the incident.
Two of the Marines who made plea deals are to be sentenced this week. A fourth squad member has made a similar deal and is due in court next week.
Some of the testimony has singled out Thomas' actions the night of April 26. The Navy medic, Petty Officer 3rd Class Melson Bacos, testified Thomas fired several rounds into Awad's chest. Bacos pleaded guilty to kidnapping and conspiracy and was ordered jailed for a year.
Victor Kelley, Thomas' civilian attorney, said his client would be acquitted but acknowledged the testimony makes it harder to defend him.
Thomas also is charged with assault in a separate incident involving a different individual that was uncovered during the investigation of Awad's death.


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Posted by: kwflatbed

By Thomas Watkins, Associated Press | August 2, 2007

CAMP PENDLETON, Calif. -- A Marine was found guilty yesterday of conspiracy to murder an Iraqi man, but acquitted of premeditated murder and kidnapping in a bungled attempt to kill a suspected insurgent last year.
Corporal Marshall Magincalda was also found guilty of larceny and housebreaking and cleared of making a false official statement. He stood rigidly alongside his two lawyers as sighs and gasps filled the packed courtroom.
A separate jury continued to deliberate in the case of his squad leader, Sergeant Lawrence G. Hutchins III of Plymouth, Mass., who faces the same charges.
Prosecutors said that during a nighttime patrol in Hamdania, Iraq, in April 2006, the Marine squad hatched a plan to kidnap and kill a suspected insurgent from his house.
When they could not find him, they kidnapped a man from a neighboring house, dragged him to a hole, and shot him.
Prosecutors said squad members tried to cover up the killing of Hashim Ibrahim Awad by planting a shovel and AK-47 by his body to make it look like he was an insurgent planting a bomb.
Magincalda, 24, of Manteca, would have received a mandatory life sentence if he had been convicted of premeditated murder. The murder conspiracy count carries a maximum sentence of life in prison, but a squadmate convicted of the same charge last month did not get any prison time from a different military jury.
Magincalda was accused of being part of the four-man "snatch team" that seized the victim from his home, but was not accused of firing shots.
His lawyers argued that the Marine is a religious man who wanted no part in the conspiracy and told his squadmates he would not shoot anyone.
The verdict was rendered by a jury of five enlisted men and one officer. All have served at least one combat tour in Iraq.
All eight members of the squad were initially charged with murder and kidnapping. Four lower-ranking Marines and a Navy corpsman cut deals with prosecutors in exchange for their testimony and received sentences ranging from one to eight years in prison.
A jury acquitted another defendant of murder last month, despite several of his former squad mates testifying that he helped kidnap and shoot Awad.
Corporal Trent D. Thomas was convicted of kidnapping and conspiracy. His rank was reduced to private, and he was given a bad-conduct discharge, but no prison time.
Prosecutors have pointed to Hutchins, 23, as the ringleader in the plot.
Hutchins's defense lawyer argued that the squad leader participated in the plot because his officers set a poor example and gave approval for Marines to use violence in capturing and interrogating suspected insurgents.

http://www.boston.com/news/local/art...ty_in_killing/

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Posted by: kwflatbed

MARINE MAY GET LIFE: He awaits sentencing on a reduced charge for killing Iraqi man

Hutchins

By DENNIS TATZ
The Patriot Ledger

A Marine sergeant from Plymouth awaits sentencing at Camp Pendleton, Calif., for killing an Iraqi man and trying to cover it up with the help of members of his squad.

Lawrence G. Hutchins III, whose father and grandfather were also Marines, still faces up to life without the possibility of parole, despite a military jury’s decision to reduce a premeditated murder charge to a lesser charge in Thursday’s verdict.

A premeditated murder conviction carries a mandatory sentence of life without parole.

The jury made up of Iraq war veterans was expected to begin sentencing deliberations today.

Hutchins, 23, was also convicted of conspiracy to commit murder, making false statements and larceny. He was acquitted of kidnapping, assault and housebreaking.

Hutchins stood rigidly and stared straight ahead in the silent courtroom as the verdict was read. A few minutes later he answered a procedural question with a loud and clear, ‘‘Yes, sir.’’

His wife, sitting in the public area behind Hutchins, sobbed silently with her head bowed.

During a sentencing hearing after the verdict, Hutchins told jurors he took part in the killing because he thought he was targeting a suspected insurgent, named Saleh Gowad, who it was widely believed had been planting improvised explosive devices, known as IEDs, in the area.

‘‘Every day there were IEDs going off in our area of operation,’’ Hutchins said. ‘‘We knew who was doing it. ... We had done everything we could do about it, to no avail.’’

Hutchins is the last of eight servicemen, including six other Marines and a Navy corpsman, to face charges in the slaying of a man who was dragged from his home in the rural Iraqi village of Hamdania and shot April 26, 2006.

Several witnesses testified the plot was resulted from frustration after suspected insurgents kept evading prosecution.

The man who was shot had been identified as Hashim Ibrahim Awad, 52, but the name was dropped after defense attorneys contended the identity was not conclusive.
During closing arguments Tuesday, Lt. Col. John Baker told jurors that Hutchins was the mastermind behind the murder, saying he should be held accountable for ‘‘killing in cold blood.’’

As he stood over the man’s bullet-riddled body, Hutchins reportedly told his squad, ‘‘Gents, we just got away with murder.’’

Defense attorney Rich Brannon insisted that Hutchins and his men were under extreme pressure to find the suspected insurgent, despite having little training in counterinsurgency.

The prosecution claimed Hutchins’ squad tried to cover up the crime by planting a shovel and a gun near the dead man to make it appear as if he was an insurgent planting a bomb.

Hutchins is a 2002 graduate of Plymouth South High High School. His parents, Lawrence and Kathleen Hutchins, live in Plymouth’s Manomet section. Hutchins’ grandfather lives in Quincy.

Hutchins’ parents, along with his wife and his young daughter, who is almost 3, were in the courtroom when the verdict was announced.

After his arrest, Hutchins married Reyna Griffin of Plymouth, who has been living in California with their daughter, Kylie, while waiting for his court-martial to begin.

Hutchins had yet to graduate high school when he asked his parents to sign permission papers for him to become a Marine.

Hutchins, six other Marines and a Navy corpsman from Kilo Company’s 1st squad, 2nd platoon from Camp Pendleton’s 3rd Battalion, 5th Marine Regiment were charged in the killing last year.

All eight members of the squad were initially charged with murder and kidnapping.

The Navy corpsman and four Marines reached plea agreements earlier and received sentences from one to eight years in prison.

Hutchins and two other squad members, Cpl. Marshall Magincalda, 24, of Manteca, Calif., and Cpl. Trent Thomas, 25, of Madison, Ill., opted for trials.

In another base courtroom, a sentencing hearing continued today for Magincalda, who was convicted Wednesday of conspiracy and lesser crimes but acquitted of premeditated murder and kidnapping.

He was also found guilty of larceny and housebreaking, and cleared of making a false official statement.

Thomas was sentenced last week to a bad conduct discharge and reduction in rank for kidnapping and conspiracy to commit murder.

Information from the North County Times - a daily newspaper in Escondido, Calif. - and the Associated Press was used in this story.


http://www.southofboston.com/article...ews/news01.txt

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Posted by: kwflatbed

LOS ANGELES - A Camp Pendleton Marine from Massachusetts who was sentenced to 15 years in the brig for killing an Iraqi man has had his sentence reduced by four years, the troop’s attorney said Wednesday.
Rich Brannon, the civilian lawyer for Lawrence G. Hutchins III, said the reduction came after he appealed to Lt. Gen. Samuel T. Helland, Hutchins’ commanding general, for clemency.
"I was pleased to see a reduction, but I would like to see more," Brannon told The Associated Press in a phone call from North Carolina.
Brannon said he had not yet seen official paperwork approving Hutchins’ sentence reduction, but he learned of the decision Tuesday from the Marine’s legal team at Camp Pendleton.
A Marine spokesman was not immediately available to comment late Wednesday.
Hutchins, of Plymouth, was the leader of an eight-man squad accused of kidnapping Hashim Ibrahim Awad, 52, from his home in April 2006 then marching him to a ditch and shooting him to death. The killing took place in Hamdania, a small village in Al Anbar province.
Hutchins was sentenced Aug. 3 after being convicted of murder, conspiracy to commit murder, making a false official statement and larceny.
Hutchins had been charged with premeditated murder but premeditation was removed from the verdict, meaning Hutchins no longer faced a mandatory life sentence.
All eight squad members — seven Marines and one Navy corpsmen — were initially charged with murder and kidnapping but four lower-ranking Marines and the sailor cut deals with prosecutors in exchange for their testimony and received sentences ranging from one to eight years in prison. Other Marines were acquitted of murder but convicted of lesser charges and freed after their courts-martial.
Brannon said Hutchins is appealing his conviction and is hoping to get the case retried.

http://bostonherald.com/news/regiona...icleid=1092655

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