Two Marines Face Juries on Murder Charges
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  1. #1

    Exclamation Two Marines Face Juries on Murder Charges

    Two Marines Face Juries on Murder Charges

    Jul 23, 2007
    Andrew Phelps

    The final two trials begin this week in prosecution of the "Pendleton 8." That's the group of Marines and a Navy corpsman who were charged in the kidnapping and killing of an Iraqi civilian in Hamdania. Corporal Marshall Magincalda faces a military judge and jury today. He's on trial for murder. Tomorrow, opening arguments begin in the trial of Sergeant Lawrence Hutchins -- the seasoned leader of the "Pendleton 8." KPBS reporter Andrew Phelps takes a closer look.

    According to testimony, Hutchins wanted revenge on an Iraqi insurgent. Hutchins allegedly hatched a plan with his squad mates to kill the insurgent and make it look like an accident. Court records show the squad couldn't find the insurgent they wanted, so they snatched a civilian who lived next door. Then they shot him to death. Prosecutors say Sergeant Hutchins fired one of the shots that killed the man.

    Five of the squad mates pleaded guilty to some charges in deals with prosecutors. Now Hutchins is taking his chances at trial. And Hutchins can't argue he was just taking orders because his squad mates say he gave those orders.

    His fellow Marines testified under oath that Hutchins was a killer. One Marine testified that Hutchins congratulated his buddies for "getting away with murder."

    Ellie


  2. #2
    Trials under way for last two Marines

    By: MARK WALKER - Staff Writer

    CAMP PENDLETON -- Trials for the two remaining defendants in the kidnapping and shooting death of a retired Iraqi police officer last year are scheduled to get under way in separate base courtrooms this morning.

    At issue for two military juries will be the roles that Sgt. Lawrence Hutchins and Cpl. Marshall Magincalda Jr. played in the killing, which took place in the village of Hamdania, northwest of Baghdad, Iraq, on April 26, 2006.

    Hutchins was the squad leader and alleged architect of a plot that led to the slaying of Hashim Ibrahim Awad. Magincalda was one of Hutchins' team leaders.


    Each is charged with murder, kidnapping, conspiracy and related offenses and faces a life prison term if convicted of the most serious charges.

    Prosecutors allege that the men participated in the deliberate slaying of Awad, an unarmed civilian whom prosecutors say was seized from his bed, marched to a crater left by an earlier roadside bomb and shot.

    Their trials are expected to play out much like this month's trial for co-defendant Cpl. Trent Thomas, who was convicted last week of conspiracy to commit murder and kidnapping. In a surprise to prosecutors, the jury in that case rejected a prison sentence and limited Thomas' punishment to a reduction in rank to private and a bad-conduct discharge.

    Thomas was freed from the base jail Friday and is now a private citizen.

    Magincalda's trial began Monday with his lead attorney, Joseph Low, telling the six-member panel hearing his case that the 24-year-old veteran of three deployments to Iraq was a reluctant participant in the Awad incident.

    Low said that Magincalda refused to take part in the shooting of Awad, but acknowledged that the 24-year-old native of Manteca did help stage the killing scene to make it appear that Awad was an insurgent.

    "He said, 'I ain't gonna do it,' " Low said of Magincalda's refusal to take part in the actual shooting of the Iraqi.

    But prosecutor Maj. Donald Plowman told the jury that Magincalda played a key role in planning the killing and took part in virtually all of its elements, including attempts to cover up the slaying when confronted by investigators after the slain man's family complained to military authorities.

    "He helped kill this man and then he lied about it," Plowman said during the prosecution's opening statement in Magincalda's hearing, which was conducted inside a small base courtroom. "Justice will demand you find the accused guilty of all the charges."

    Magincalda is the second man from the Kilo Company's 1st squad, 2nd platoon from Camp Pendleton's 3rd Battalion, 5th Marine Regiment to take his case to trial.

    Five other men, four Marines and a Navy corpsman, struck plea deals and received sentences ranging from one to eight years behind bars.

    The holder of a Purple Heart for a wound he suffered during a 2004 battle in Fallujah, Magincalda is accused of distributing spent shell casings from a stolen AK-47 rifle around Awad's body in the early morning hours of April 26 to make it appear as though Awad had fired at the troops.

    The troops who pleaded guilty have each testified that Awad was killed when the squad could not find its original target, a suspected insurgent. The killing was meant to send a message to insurgents in the Hamdania area that the Marines were not going to tolerate more attacks, the men have testified.

    Magincalda's trial is expected to last through the middle of next week and will feature many of the same witnesses who testified during the Thomas trial, including the troops who reached plea deals.

    Like the jury in the Thomas case, the panel deciding Magincalda's fate is expected to hear defense testimony about him suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder and traumatic brain injury from his combat experience.

    The jury is made up of one captain, a master gunnery sergeant, a gunnery sergeant, a first sergeant and two sergeants. Under the military justice system, two-thirds of the panel must agree on a verdict, unlike the civilian system in which a jury deciding a criminal case must reach unanimous agreement.

    This morning, jury selection begins in the case against Hutchins, a 23-year-old native of Plymouth, Mass., who was on his first assignment in Iraq when Awad was killed.

    -- Contact staff writer Mark Walker at (760) 740-3529 or mlwalker@nctimes.com.

    Ellie


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