General cuts sentences of two imprisoned Marines

[fontman]

General cuts sentences of two imprisoned Marines
By Rick Rogers
UNION-TRIBUNE STAFF WRITER
5:06 p.m. August 7, 2007

CAMP PENDLETON - A general has cut short the sentences of two Marines imGeneral cuts sentences of two imprisoned Marines
By Rick Rogers
UNION-TRIBUNE STAFF WRITER
5:06 p.m. August 7, 2007

CAMP PENDLETON - A general has cut short the sentences of two Marines imprisoned in the Hamdaniya murder case and might do the same for two others.

Pvts. Tyler Jackson and Jerry Shumate Jr. were released Monday by order of Lt. Gen. James Mattis, commander of the 1st Marine Expeditionary Force at Camp Pendleton. The base announced Mattis' decision Tuesday.

Jackson and Shumate had been sentenced to 21 months in the brig as part of pretrial deals in which they pleaded guilty to aggravated assault and conspiracy to obstruct justice. They were demoted in rank - from corporal to private.

In exchange, the government dropped the charge of premeditated murder, which would have sent the defendants to prison for life without parole if they were convicted.

Before Mattis released them Monday, Jackson and Shumate were scheduled to leave the brig as early as December.

Mattis took into account various factors, including "their military experience, relative rank and position of authority and their specific involvement" in the Hamdaniya case, according to a statement that Camp Pendleton issued Tuesday.

Jackson, Shumate, five other Marines and a Navy corpsman kidnapped and killed a man in Hamdaniya, Iraq, on April 26, 2006. They snatched the victim from his bed, took him to a roadside hole, bound him and executed him with a barrage of bullets.

Afterward, the squad tried to disguise the killing as a firefight between U.S. troops and an insurgent trying to plant a bomb.

The defendants said they partly wanted to send a message that insurgents and their supporters in Hamdaniya would pay a dear price. They had become frustrated after repeatedly arresting a suspect and turning him over to Iraqi authorities, only to see him released every time.

Five of the defendants finalized plea bargains with the prosecution, receiving prison terms of one to eight years. Four of them - Jackson, Shumate, demoted Pvt. John Jodka III and demoted Hospitalman Melson Bacos - had left prison as of Tuesday.

The remaining Hamdaniya defendants went through courts-martial. Two of them - Cpls. Trent Thomas and Marshall Magincalda - were demoted to the rank of private and released from the brig at the end of their trials. Each had spent about 450 days in prison by then.

That leaves two Hamdaniya defendants still behind bars: Pvts. Robert Pennington and Lawrence Hutchins III. Before the Marine Corps demoted them, Pennington was a coporal and Hutchins was a sergeant.

Pennington is serving an eight-year sentence and Hutchins, who oversaw the Hamdaniya abduction and killing, was sentenced to 15 years last week.

Mattis is considering whether to cut short the prison terms for Pennington and Hutchins, Marine spokesman Lt. Col. Sean Gibson said Tuesday.

Those defendants' attorneys and family members are asking Mattis to reduce the sentences.prisoned in the Hamdaniya murder case and might do the same for two others.

Pvts. Tyler Jackson and Jerry Shumate Jr. were released Monday by order of Lt. Gen. James Mattis, commander of the 1st Marine Expeditionary Force at Camp Pendleton. The base announced Mattis' decision Tuesday.

Jackson and Shumate had been sentenced to 21 months in the brig as part of pretrial deals in which they pleaded guilty to aggravated assault and conspiracy to obstruct justice. They were demoted in rank - from corporal to private.

In exchange, the government dropped the charge of premeditated murder, which would have sent the defendants to prison for life without parole if they were convicted.

Before Mattis released them Monday, Jackson and Shumate were scheduled to leave the brig as early as December.

Mattis took into account various factors, including "their military experience, relative rank and position of authority and their specific involvement" in the Hamdaniya case, according to a statement that Camp Pendleton issued Tuesday.

Jackson, Shumate, five other Marines and a Navy corpsman kidnapped and killed a man in Hamdaniya, Iraq, on April 26, 2006. They snatched the victim from his bed, took him to a roadside hole, bound him and executed him with a barrage of bullets.

Afterward, the squad tried to disguise the killing as a firefight between U.S. troops and an insurgent trying to plant a bomb.

The defendants said they partly wanted to send a message that insurgents and their supporters in Hamdaniya would pay a dear price. They had become frustrated after repeatedly arresting a suspect and turning him over to Iraqi authorities, only to see him released every time.

Five of the defendants finalized plea bargains with the prosecution, receiving prison terms of one to eight years. Four of them - Jackson, Shumate, demoted Pvt. John Jodka III and demoted Hospitalman Melson Bacos - had left prison as of Tuesday.

The remaining Hamdaniya defendants went through courts-martial. Two of them - Cpls. Trent Thomas and Marshall Magincalda - were demoted to the rank of private and released from the brig at the end of their trials. Each had spent about 450 days in prison by then.

That leaves two Hamdaniya defendants still behind bars: Pvts. Robert Pennington and Lawrence Hutchins III. Before the Marine Corps demoted them, Pennington was a coporal and Hutchins was a sergeant.

Pennington is serving an eight-year sentence and Hutchins, who oversaw the Hamdaniya abduction and killing, was sentenced to 15 years last week.

Mattis is considering whether to cut short the prison terms for Pennington and Hutchins, Marine spokesman Lt. Col. Sean Gibson said Tuesday.

Those defendants' attorneys and family members are asking Mattis to reduce the sentences.

[OLE SARG]

murtha will squeak like the big, fat, sloppy, dirty, scarred, unbathed, stinky, potbellied sow that he is when he hears this news!!!!!!!
The lardass is a traitor and needs a size 13 boot up his ass!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

SEMPER FI,

[thedrifter]

Mattis frees junior Marines

By: TERI FIGUEROA - Staff Writer

A Marine commander this week freed two Marines jailed for killing an Iraqi man and may shave the sentences of two others, including a sergeant serving 15 years for murder.

In an unexpected move Monday, Marine Lt. Gen. James Mattis, the head of Marine forces in Iraq, lopped off the remaining few months of brig time faced by two junior Marines who pleaded guilty to a plot to kidnap and kill an Iraqi. Each served about 15 months in jail.

Eight Camp Pendleton troops have either pleaded guilty to or were found guilty of taking part in a plot to drag an Iraqi man from his home, shoot him to death and then frame him as an insurgent in the rural village of Hamdania on April 26, 2006.


Sentences for the eight men, particularly those reached by juries, varied widely. Some were sentenced to time already served and released. Others pleaded guilty in exchange for sentences ranging from one to eight years.

The heaviest punishment came last week, when a jury convicted the squad leader, Sgt. Lawrence Hutchins III, of murder and sentenced him to 15 years. It was the first time a Marine has been convicted of murdering an Iraqi civilian since the U.S. invaded that county in 2003.

Mattis, who can shorten sentences but not increase them, freed Pvts. Jerry Shumate Jr., 21, and Tyler Jackson, 23, out of a sense of fairness, a military spokesman said Tuesday. Formerly both lance corporals, each was reduced in rank and serving a 21-month sentence.

"He (Mattis) balanced many factors to include their military experience, relative rank and position of authority and their specific involvement in the death of the Iraqi man as it was determined through the military legal process," Lt. Col. Sean Gibson wrote in response to questions about Mattis' decision.

The early releases this week mean six of the eight troops who participated in the plot have been freed from jail.

Gibson said the general is also considering shaving the sentences of Hutchins and Pvt. Robert Pennington, who is serving eight years.

Pennington, who said he did not shoot the victim but stood guard while his buddies yanked the man out of bed, pleaded guilty in February to reduced charges in exchange for an eight-year sentence. He was the last of the men to plead guilty, and he agreed to a sentence four times longer than the men who took plea deals before him.

Reached at his Georgia offices Tuesday, Hutchins' attorney, Rich Brannon, declined to comment about the potential that his client's sentence could be reduced. The family of the 23-year-old Massachusetts native could not be reached for comment, but Brannon said Monday that they were meeting with Mattis to lobby for leniency.

Pennington's attorney, Carlsbad-based retired Brig. Gen. David Brahms, also declined comment Tuesday about efforts to have him freed early.

Pennington's mother said her family is "cautiously hopeful" his sentenced will be slashed.

"We have been praying for this for a long time," Deanna Pennington said.

Shumate's family could not be reached for comment.

Jackson's mother, Terri, said she and her family are thrilled about the release of her son. They are heading to Camp Pendleton this weekend to see him, she said. The last time the family saw him outside the brig was before his departure to Iraq in January 2006.

"We are very happy that he is out," Terri Jackson said from her home in Tracy, "and we can't wait to have him home."

Juries for the three Marines who took their cases to trial were made up entirely of Iraq war veterans, including some who earned awards for valor. Most of the panel members belonged to infantry battalions.

During the trials, Marines' testimony underscored the constraints of men in a war where insurgents hide among civilians and roadside bombs are the biggest killer of U.S. troops.

The eight men were on a mission to catch anyone planting roadside bombs on the night they crafted a plan to kill an Iraqi.

According to testimony, the eight squad mates were frustrated by an inability to keep Hamdania's lead insurgent from repeatedly being released from custody. They also began taking their cues from platoon and battalion leaders, who beat Iraqi detainees, according to testimony.

The squad was also viewed as soft, and was under pressure to be more aggressive with Iraqis.

-- Contact staff writer Teri Figueroa at (760) 631-6624 or tfigueroa@nctimes.com.

Status of each serviceman charged in the Hamdania killing:

Hospitalman 3rd Class Melson Bacos: Pleaded guilty to kidnapping and conspiracy to kidnap and making false official statements. Sentenced to 12 months in the brig, released in March.

Pfc. John Jodka III: Pleaded guilty to aggravated assault and conspiracy to obstruct justice. Sentenced to 18 months in the brig, released in July.

Lance Cpl. Tyler Jackson: Pleaded guilty to aggravated assault and obstruction of justice. Sentenced to 21 months in the brig, released Monday

Lance Cpl. Robert Pennington: Pleaded guilty to kidnapping and conspiracy to commit premeditated murder and kidnapping. Sentenced to eight years in prison.

Lance Cpl. Jerry Shumate Jr.: Pleaded guilty to aggravated assault and conspiracy to obstruct justice. Sentenced to 21 months in the brig. Released Monday.

Cpl. Marshall Magincalda: Convicted by a jury Aug. 1 of conspiracy to commit murder and lesser charges. Released from brig Friday by jury's vote.

Cpl. Trent Thomas: Convicted by a jury July 18 of kidnapping, conspiracy to commit murder and lesser charges. Released from brig July 20 by jury's vote.

Sgt. Lawrence Hutchins III: Squad leader convicted of unpremeditated murder, conspiracy to commit murder and lesser offenses. Jury sentenced him Friday to 15 years in prison.

Ellie

[lucien2]

murtha will squeak like the big, fat, sloppy, dirty, scarred, unbathed, stinky, potbellied sow that he is when he hears this news!!!!!!!
The lardass is a traitor and needs a size 13 boot up his ass!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

SEMPER FI,

Sh!t sarge, don't hold back! I agree 110%......

[Scottyva]

As do I. I guess something happens to a person when they go to Capitol Hill. Its either the tie being too tight or the friggen water supply.