Marine Sentenced.....

[Phantom Blooper]

UPDATE: Law sentenced to life without parole




January 20, 2011 12:59 PM

HOPE HODGE

Updated at 6:25 p.m.

After two days of emotional testimony and more than two hours of deliberation, a Camp Lejeune Marine who murdered a colleague with an iron spike was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole Thursday afternoon.
Pvt. Jonathan Law, 22, of Clark County, Nev., pleaded guilty last month to killing a fellow Marine in an adjoining unit, 22-year-old Cpl. Joshua Hartzell of Hamilton, Ohio. Law changed his plea as part of a pretrial agreement that removed the option of capital punishment for the crime.
During his sentencing hearing, the prosecution called a string of witnesses Wednesday and most of Thursday morning who testified to the viciousness of the murder and the way it had destroyed the camaraderie and trust of Hartzell’s close-knit Marine Corps community and sent his family into a spiral of grief.
Hartzell’s girlfriend, Ashley Kieswether, had been on the phone with him discussing plans for an upcoming cruise when he was struck without warning by Law, a Marine he had never met.
Kieswether said she relives the events of that day and the next daily.
“The world’s a darker place without him,” she said. “They don’t make men like him. There’s just such a hole in so many hearts because he’s not here.”
The final testimony came from Hartzell’s mother, Jeannean Dickhaus, who sobbed as she was shown photographs of her son as a child and as a young man.
“It still is pretty hard to know that I can never talk to him again, to know that someone was so brutal to hurt my son,” she said. “My son wasn’t in Afghanistan. He wasn’t in Iraq. He was in a safe place where I didn’t think I had to worry. And now he’s gone.”
Law, who had sat in silence during the day of testimony, rose and faced Hartzell’s family when it was complete.
“There’s nothing I can do or say to change what I’ve done and the pain I’ve brought to all of you,” he said, weeping. “I just wanted to say that I’m sorry for what I’ve done, and I’m sorry for Cpl. Hartzell. I’m just so sorry.”
He resumed his seat and sank his head to the desk in front of him, his shoulders heaving.
Law’s military defense counsel argued for the minimum sentence of life with the possibility of parole on the grounds that the young Marine was a chronically unbalanced young man who had been in an alcohol and marijuana induced blackout the night he killed Hartzell.
According to documents presented by the defense, Law spent 14 days in a psychiatric facility in Salt Lake City in 2004 after presenting a credible plan to kill his own father. He was later recommended for long-term residential treatment for diagnosed mental issues including bipolar disorder and heavy substance abuse.
While Law seemed to become more stable under the structure of the Marine Corps, rising to the rank of corporal, he fell into old habits in 2008 and 2009, receiving non-judicial punishment for reporting to work drunk and for driving while intoxicated. In 2009 alone, he had more than 74 appointments for substance abuse, mental health and anger management issues.
Earning the nickname “Crazy Law” from his friends, he had photo collages from horror movies and a noose hanging in his room, homemade brands seared into his legs, a cardboard cutout of Hannah Montana and Strawberry Shortcake bed sheets. At one point, he asked his buddies to film him committing suicide.
Law’s lead defense attorney, Maj. Forrest Hoover, said the evidence showed an unstable young man who might be able to reenter society if he chose to submit to a lengthy rehabilitation process.
“Your honor, nothing (Law) did was normal, and it all points to someone who was unbalanced,” Hoover said.
The crime itself, committed on an impulse with a victim chosen at random then haphazardly dragged away from the scene and hidden in the woods, reinforced the impression, he said.
“Something is completely wrong with Pvt. Law, and he’s never really been treated for it, except to be put on pills,” Hoover said.
But the prosecution, led by Maj. Mike Zimmerman, argued that the concentration of marijuana, cough syrup, and alcohol found in Law’s system could never have induced the blackout state the defendant alleged, particularly for someone who drank as heavily and habitually as Law did.
“This alcohol and drug use was not the genesis of the need to go kill someone,” he said. “This was a longstanding need, a longstanding issue with Pvt. Law … This isn’t some flight of fancy that occurred on Nov. 6 and was some sudden impulse. This is something that had been building for a long time.”
Zimmerman said Law’s life and his crime were marked by a fixation on “brutality for brutality’s sake.”
“(Murder) doesn’t get any more violent and despicable,” he said.
Law expressed no emotion when his sentence was read. Outside the courtroom, Hartzell’s family embraced and wept.
The murdered Marine’s father, Edward Hartzell, looked weary as he left the building.
“We’re just relieved,” he said of Law’s sentence. “The Marine Corps has been just great through this. It’s a shame this had to happen.”
Because of the length of Law’s sentence, he will be entered into the federal system, with the place of his incarceration yet to be determined. In addition to life without parole, he will be subject to forfeiture of all pay and allowances, and a dishonorable discharge from the Marine Corps.
On Saturday, Hartzell’s high school in Ross, Ohio, will hold a wrestling tournament in honor of the fallen Marine.

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Updated at 3:20 p.m.


After deliberating for more than two hours, Judge Lt. Col. Bill Riggs sentenced Pvt. Jonathan Law to life in prison without parole, forfeiture of all pay and allowances, and a dishonorable discharge from the Marine Corps.
Law, from Clark County, Nev., joined the Marine Corps Aug. 15, 2006, according to information from 2nd Marine Logistics Group. He deployed in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom from August 2007 to March 2008.
Hartzell, from Hamilton, Ohio, was born Oct. 20, 1987, and joined the Marine Corps Sept. 5, 2006. His personal awards include the Good Conduct Medal, the Global War on Terrorism Service Medal and the National Defense Service Medal.

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Deliberations are underway in the sentencing of a Camp Lejeune Marine accused of killing a colleague in November 2009.
Arguments ended around noon Thursday in the sentencing hearing of Pvt. Jonathan Law, who pleaded guilty to the murder of Cpl. Joshua Hartzell.
On Wedesday and Thursday morning, the prosecution brought forward more than a dozen witnesses who testified to the character of Hartzell, portraying him as an innocent victim who was loved by his family and fellow Marines, who had no connection to Law and was in the wrong place at the wrong time.
The prosecution closed arguments Thursday morning by calling Law's crime "brutality for brutality's sake" and by urging Judge Lt. Col. Bill Riggs to sentence Law to life without the possibility of parole.
The defense maintained that Law's history shows him to be a psychologically unbalanced young man who had ingested a large of quantity of alcohol, marijuana and over-the-counter cough medicine, and was in a state of black out when the crime occurred.
The defense asked the judge to sentence Law to life with the possibility of parole.

[usmchauer]

Sad story, my friend.

[Gerson]

I had just returned from deployment in Afghanistan when this happened. I remember hearing from other Marines about someone having pretty much being beheaded the night before. I was just watching 48 Hours: NCIS when I remembered about this and decided to look it up. It is always terrible for a family member to lose someone in the military when they are not even deployed.