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08-08-06, 11:02 AM
Hearings set for accused Marines in Hamdania case
By: MARK WALKER - Staff Writer
CAMP PENDLETON -- The first of three military court hearings to determine whether kidnapping, murder and related charges will be brought against seven Marines and a Navy corpsman now charged with killing an Iraqi civilian in April is set to begin on Aug. 28, a Marine Corps spokesman said Monday.
Maj. Jeffrey Nyhart said the Article 32 hearing for Lance Cpl. Jerry Shumate Jr. is scheduled to begin that date inside a Camp Pendleton courtroom.
Shumate is the only one of those charged whose hearing will focus solely on his alleged role in the death of 52-year-old Hashim Ibrahim Awad in the Iraqi village of Hamdania.
Part of the charges against Shumate accuse him of firing rounds from his M-16 rifle into Awad, who authorities allege was taken from his home, bound and shot, with the death scene staged to make it appear he was planting a roadside bomb.
Nearly a month after Shumate's hearing, a combined Article 32 hearing is set to take place starting Sept. 25 for Cpl. Marshall Magincalda, Hospitalman 3rd Class Melson Bacos, Lance Cpl. Robert Pennington and Pfc. John Jodka III. Article 32 hearings are the military's version of a pre-trial hearing to determine if criminal charges should stand and a court-martial be held.
"We'll be ready to go on that date," said Jane Siegel, a retired Marine attorney hired by Jodka's family to help defend the Encinitas native.
Magincalda, Bacos and Pennington are accused of placing Awad near the hole where he was shot, and Bacos is further alleged to have fired a stolen AK-47 assault rifle and placing the spent shells around Awad's body. Jodka is accused of firing rounds from his M-249 machine gun into Awad.
On Oct. 18, a hearing for Sgt. Lawrence Hutchins III, Cpl. Trent D. Thomas and Lance Cpl. Tyler Jackson is set to begin, Nyhart said, cautioning that each hearing date could change based on extenuating circumstances.
Hutchins is accused of firing his M-16 at Awad, lying about what happened and instructing his men to lie to investigators. Thomas is accused of kidnapping Awad and helping bind his hands and feet. Jackson is accused of firing rounds from his machine gun into the Iraqi.
It was not immediately clear why the hearings are being grouped the way they were announced. Defense attorneys interviewed Monday said they are preparing their cases based on the dates given by the Marine Corps.
Each man faces the possibility of the death penalty if convicted of premeditated murder. Their attorneys and family members contend they are innocent of any wrongdoing, and Marine Corps officials stress each is presumed innocent.
The men's first chance to enter a formal plea will come if the Marine officer presiding over hearings recommends the cases proceed to courts-martial and the commanding general, which will be Lt. Gen. James Mattis, concurs.
If that happens, a jury of military officers would be empaneled to hear the cases.
The hearings come months after the men from the 3rd Battalion, 5th Marine Regiment were first detained in Iraq in late April and then transferred to Camp Pendleton, where they were placed in the base brig on May 24.
The Marine Corps announced the charges against the men on June 21, and lodged a new set of allegations against three of them and three others last week.
The new allegations charge Sgt. Hutchins with assaulting three Iraqi civilians on April 10 in Hamdania. Thomas and Shumate also are accused of assaulting one of three men allegedly beaten by their sergeant.
In addition, the Marine Corps filed assault charges against Lance Cpls. Saul H. Lopezromo and Henry D. Lever and Pfc. Derek I. Lewis. Those men do not face any confinement or base restrictions based on a decision made by their commander, Nyhart said.
It has not been determined whether those charged in the assault case will have Article 32 hearings. The Marine Corps may opt for a less serious process to resolve those cases, Nyhart said.
"It is inappropriate to assume that a certain course of action will be followed," he said, pointing to the Uniform Code of Military Justice, which allows for a less serious way to resolve some criminal cases.
As the Hamdania case moves forward, the Marine Corps continues to await the final report from the Naval Criminal Investigative Service on the much more notorious case involving the shooting deaths of 24 civilians Nov. 19 in Haditha, Iraq.
Members of the 3rd Battalion, 1st Marine Regiment from Camp Pendleton are under investigation in that case, which was first reported by Time magazine in March and caused an international uproar. None of those Marines has been charged with any crime.
That investigation is said to be "very much ongoing" and it could be several weeks before a decision is made on whether anyone will be charged in that case.
A companion report prepared under the direction of a U.S. Army general into whether Marine commanders failed to properly investigate the first reports of the Haditha killings is complete but remains under wraps pending completion of the criminal probe.
-- Contact staff writer Mark Walker at (760) 740-3520 or mlwalker@nctimes.com.
By: MARK WALKER - Staff Writer
CAMP PENDLETON -- The first of three military court hearings to determine whether kidnapping, murder and related charges will be brought against seven Marines and a Navy corpsman now charged with killing an Iraqi civilian in April is set to begin on Aug. 28, a Marine Corps spokesman said Monday.
Maj. Jeffrey Nyhart said the Article 32 hearing for Lance Cpl. Jerry Shumate Jr. is scheduled to begin that date inside a Camp Pendleton courtroom.
Shumate is the only one of those charged whose hearing will focus solely on his alleged role in the death of 52-year-old Hashim Ibrahim Awad in the Iraqi village of Hamdania.
Part of the charges against Shumate accuse him of firing rounds from his M-16 rifle into Awad, who authorities allege was taken from his home, bound and shot, with the death scene staged to make it appear he was planting a roadside bomb.
Nearly a month after Shumate's hearing, a combined Article 32 hearing is set to take place starting Sept. 25 for Cpl. Marshall Magincalda, Hospitalman 3rd Class Melson Bacos, Lance Cpl. Robert Pennington and Pfc. John Jodka III. Article 32 hearings are the military's version of a pre-trial hearing to determine if criminal charges should stand and a court-martial be held.
"We'll be ready to go on that date," said Jane Siegel, a retired Marine attorney hired by Jodka's family to help defend the Encinitas native.
Magincalda, Bacos and Pennington are accused of placing Awad near the hole where he was shot, and Bacos is further alleged to have fired a stolen AK-47 assault rifle and placing the spent shells around Awad's body. Jodka is accused of firing rounds from his M-249 machine gun into Awad.
On Oct. 18, a hearing for Sgt. Lawrence Hutchins III, Cpl. Trent D. Thomas and Lance Cpl. Tyler Jackson is set to begin, Nyhart said, cautioning that each hearing date could change based on extenuating circumstances.
Hutchins is accused of firing his M-16 at Awad, lying about what happened and instructing his men to lie to investigators. Thomas is accused of kidnapping Awad and helping bind his hands and feet. Jackson is accused of firing rounds from his machine gun into the Iraqi.
It was not immediately clear why the hearings are being grouped the way they were announced. Defense attorneys interviewed Monday said they are preparing their cases based on the dates given by the Marine Corps.
Each man faces the possibility of the death penalty if convicted of premeditated murder. Their attorneys and family members contend they are innocent of any wrongdoing, and Marine Corps officials stress each is presumed innocent.
The men's first chance to enter a formal plea will come if the Marine officer presiding over hearings recommends the cases proceed to courts-martial and the commanding general, which will be Lt. Gen. James Mattis, concurs.
If that happens, a jury of military officers would be empaneled to hear the cases.
The hearings come months after the men from the 3rd Battalion, 5th Marine Regiment were first detained in Iraq in late April and then transferred to Camp Pendleton, where they were placed in the base brig on May 24.
The Marine Corps announced the charges against the men on June 21, and lodged a new set of allegations against three of them and three others last week.
The new allegations charge Sgt. Hutchins with assaulting three Iraqi civilians on April 10 in Hamdania. Thomas and Shumate also are accused of assaulting one of three men allegedly beaten by their sergeant.
In addition, the Marine Corps filed assault charges against Lance Cpls. Saul H. Lopezromo and Henry D. Lever and Pfc. Derek I. Lewis. Those men do not face any confinement or base restrictions based on a decision made by their commander, Nyhart said.
It has not been determined whether those charged in the assault case will have Article 32 hearings. The Marine Corps may opt for a less serious process to resolve those cases, Nyhart said.
"It is inappropriate to assume that a certain course of action will be followed," he said, pointing to the Uniform Code of Military Justice, which allows for a less serious way to resolve some criminal cases.
As the Hamdania case moves forward, the Marine Corps continues to await the final report from the Naval Criminal Investigative Service on the much more notorious case involving the shooting deaths of 24 civilians Nov. 19 in Haditha, Iraq.
Members of the 3rd Battalion, 1st Marine Regiment from Camp Pendleton are under investigation in that case, which was first reported by Time magazine in March and caused an international uproar. None of those Marines has been charged with any crime.
That investigation is said to be "very much ongoing" and it could be several weeks before a decision is made on whether anyone will be charged in that case.
A companion report prepared under the direction of a U.S. Army general into whether Marine commanders failed to properly investigate the first reports of the Haditha killings is complete but remains under wraps pending completion of the criminal probe.
-- Contact staff writer Mark Walker at (760) 740-3520 or mlwalker@nctimes.com.